The Orphan Prince
by ButaTokki45
Summary: Set back in Ancient Aquatica, orphaned 12 year old Percy Jackson has found himself with three other boys, fighting against each other for the title of the prince. However, as the challenge goes on, a more treacherous plan unfolds itself and the four boys might find themselves proving worthy for a much higher price.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the start of my new story, "The Orphan Prince". I had the idea of it when I read, "The False Prince," and decided to twist it a little. "You're Beautiful Too" will come out soon.**

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I ran for it while, as fast as I could, swiftly through the forest and trying hard not to make a sound. But it didn't matter. They found me in anyways and ran right for me. My legs were burning while my breath was speeding up. I was losing energy, and fast.

I kept looking back, turning and turning, just to make sure that they weren't tailing me. I brushed my hair back with my fingers and kept going forward.

I kept running, farther and farther. I didn't hear their footsteps. I slowly scrunched down and breathed, my hands on my knees and my hair spilled over my forehead. I silently coughed, wheezing in the thin air. I need to get away.

Suddenly, they appeared in front of me.

"Hey, what'cha doin? Do you think that you're gonna get away with it?" And the began to kick me. The biggest one kicked me on the legs, causing me to fall, then, kicked me again, harder, in the stomach. I coughed up blood.

"What'cha gonna do now, ha? Watch'a gonna do now?" They surrounded me and kept kicking. There were around five of them. My head, arms, legs, stomach, anywhere that you can imagine, they kicked. My torn and tattered shirt and pants looked more like strips of clothing that were seamed together, tearing apart more as they kept kicking.

"Stop..." I croaked, the blood in my mouth tasting worse.

"Stop, guys," said a skinnier boy. "Let's go back. If they find out we're gone, we're going to get into trouble." They grumbled amongst each other and agreed.

"Alright," a short one said, "let's go." They began to walk through the forest, back to the orphanage, but the biggest one kicked me once more, making me spill blood out of my mouth once more.

"Tell anyone about this, and you're dead." Then, they all left me lying on the ground, panting for breath. I quietly stopped breathing heavy and slowed down, but my eye sight was getting more blurry. Then, I blacked out.

I slowly grumbled and my eyes opened. The soft chirps of crickets were surrounding me, like those group of boys. There was a eerie, melodic sound but I was too disorientated to think. When I did, my head hurt. I reached up to rub my head. I couldn't see anything, since it was too dark.

'It's night,' I thought to myself. 'What time is it?'

I picked myself up with my arms, but they suddenly gave out and I fell back onto the ground. I winced at the pain that was soaring all across my body. I could still taste the blood that was in my mouth. I bit my lips and picked myself up again, though this time, a lot more careful and gingerly.

I felt like a rag doll. I was being pushed around, thrown, torn apart, bitten. I didn't feel any difference from it to me right now. I carefully touched the soft bruise that was on my stomach, then, my head. There was blood, I could tell, but I was afraid to find out to what extent that the injuries had caused.

I stumbled across the dark forest, trying to navigate my way to the orphanage that I was running away from. Oh, sorry for being rude, but from my what just happened, I didn't think that it was the right time for and explanation.

My name is Percy. Percy Jackson. Don't call me anything else. Just Percy Jackson. I could be described as weak, pathetic, or unfit, but I just describe how I look, not that it matters. Right now, I have dark brown hair, some light streaks from the end of my hair. My green eyes aren't common, but I try to the best to hide them. When you're from around here, looking straight into someone's eyes means that you want a challenge. And you're gonna get it.

That's partially the reason why I'm in this mess. Before the group of boys came, I was alright being battered with scars and bruises, slowly healing. However, after the beating that I just got, I don't think that it'll take a short time for recovery.

I had looked them into the eyes. They thought it was a challenge. They thought that I could beat them. And let me tell you, I could. I was just holding back. I'm a lot swifter than them and slimmer, easily making me fit into almost any crack or crevasse, unlike all the unruly kids back there.

I've lived in an orphanage for the past two years of my life. I'm twelve. That young. You might be wondering what happened for me to end up in a orphanage. That's an easy explanation that doesn't need to go on and on. Parents died in a fire. Brother went missing. And I'm stuck here.

I continue to keep walking, avoiding all the trees, but the painful feeling in my gut and head made me double over. I picked myself up from the ground, covered with leaves, but kept walking.

I had finally reached the orphanage that I was originally at. It wasn't any different from a cottage, except maybe the size. It was a little bigger than the normal house. The walls were made of straw and hay, with a few hard rocks around it. I drag myself to the front and knocked on the door. A big woman opened it, blinding me with the lights that glowed on the inside. My eyes closed shut, then slowly opening as the woman, known as Mrs. Poppy, lectured me about being late once again, ignoring the fact that I was bleeding and shivering. Hey, when you're in Ancient Aquatica, it's hard to get good service.

"Now Mr. Jackson, how do you expect me to come here at this time? You know that everyone has a curfew and that you are suppose to be here before the moon comes out. The king and queen's orders are strict, but they will protect you kids. Now, hurry in before you catch a cold." She hurried me in and that's when she noticed the bleeding wounds. She sighed.

"That's the fourth time, Percy. What's going on?" And I gave her the same answer that I've been giving her every since the first time I was assaulted.

"I fell down from Zeus's fist." I didn't expect her to believe me, but she let it go, not wanting for me to explain everything.

"Okay, young man. Your dinner is upstairs in your room. Oh, and tell Trevor to come down here. He made a big mess in the kitchen and expects me to clean it up." She kept going on and on about that while I slowly snuck behind her and walked upstairs to my room.

I passed a couple of doorways, where all the other boys were staying. One particular door was opened and the group of boys that kicked me were all there, laughing and eating.

When they spotted me, they silenced and their leader, the bigger kid, or Matt Sloan, walked up to the door and glared down at me.

"Why, Jackson, what ever happened?" he asked, feigning sincerity. I shrugged.

"I fell from Zeus's fist. Oh, and Trevor? Mrs. Poppy wants you." He gave me an evil smile and walked back. I continue on down the long hallway until I was in my room. I opened the door to find my food gone. Those guys must of taken it. I sighed and stumbled into the dirty room called the bathroom and bandaged myself up. I hung my shirt on a rusty hook that was there. When I had taken care of my wounds, I gently walk back to my bed and plopped down, regretting ever doing that because I winced in pain. My arm rubbed the side where Matt had kicked me and where Steven had kicked my head.

I stared up at the empty ceiling. The only light source was that of a small lantern that sat next to my bed and the window if the sun was out. I didn't have a closet like the other boys did, but I didn't have any clothes except the ones that were on me. I didn't share my room, unlike everyone else besides Mrs. Poppy, but I liked it better this way. I could think without the noise.

I was lucky that my room had a lock, but I forgot to lock it today and the boys stole my dinner. However, I wasn't hungry either way.

I lay on my side, the one that didn't hurt, and continued to concentrate. Though, I found myself fall asleep fast.

The next day, the light shined through my window and into my face. I blinked my eyes open and found my breakfast next to my bed, by the lantern. It consisted of bread, oatmeal, an apple, and a jug of milk. I ate everything and gulped down the milk. I was hungry, especially when I didn't have any dinner last night.

I almost forgot about my injuries when I got up, but soon the painful feeling shot back up through my body and I let out a muffled scream. I walked to the bathroom, one step at a time. It felt like they were made of lead, but eventually I made it into the bathroom and took of the bandages, looking into the mirrors. I almost screamed again when I saw the extent of my injuries.

The big gash through the left side of my body was red from the blood, but purple, blue, and brown. It was sickening to look at and I wanted to vomit, though I was afraid what would happen if I took the bandages off of my head.

I decided against it, leaving it on for a little bit longer. I looked at myself in the mirror again. Not to shabby. I chuckled against the pain.

I could hear Mrs. Poppy call down all the boys and the scrambling that was there every morning as they all ran down as fast as they could. Sometimes, Mrs. Poppy talked about extra food, or a game, or some other boring thing. I didn't know about today.

After everyone but me was downstairs in the big dining hall, I took the scraps I call clothes and put my shirt back on. You could see the bandage through all the holes, but it's what I got. Clothes don't come cheap around here. The only other way is to steal it and I've done that before, but was caught.

I had on a sullen face and forced myself to walk down the stairs. There were tons of kids. All of them boys and they were seated in the dining hall, where we usually each lunch, dinner, and all sorts of things that the boys do. I was the only one that went straight up to my room.

They were all talking to one another, leaving a small section of a table on the far side of the room for me. No one wanted to be by me. I was the loner. At first, it was intimidating, but after two years, I fit right in. With myself, at least. The front of the room consists of a wall full of nothing. It looked like it was rotting and I was at the opposite side, so I considered myself lucky.

I sat down and watched the stares that I was getting from the other boys. They were glaring at me or laughing. Matt must have said something. Probably about how stupid I was for falling off of Zeus's fist for the fourth time.

Mrs. Poppy walked into the room after a few minutes. But she wasn't alone. I was the first to notice the man that was beside her.

He was a well dressed man, meaning that he must have been rich. The sparkling jewels on him confirmed it. He was probably a nobleman of the king. I snorted. Why would he be hear. We're just filthy boys.

Mrs. Poppy exclaimed for everyone to look at her and the dozens of boys in the room obeyed, most likely staring at the rich man next to her. The room hushed and everyone turned so their attention was on her. She was smiling wide, something that I've rarely seen, only except when some boys get adopted for a family. Maybe this man wanted to adopt a boy. Too bad it's not going to be me. Seeing me dressed like this, I probably won't be chosen.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Mr. Santos." Mr. Santos smiled at us and everyone but me gave a smile back. I could see that he was only looking at a specific person. Or people. "He has come today to talk to all of us about adopting quite a lot of you." There was murmuring amongst the crowd. Mr. Santos began to talk.

He had an accent that only a few Aquaticans have. Most of them are squires to the king.

"I'd like to adopt some of you boys," he said, smiling. There was something about him... "Mrs. Poppy was very kind letting me adopt some of you handsome young fellows. You will be coming home with me and I'd really enjoy your company. However, I'll only be able to adopt four of you, so please don't be discouraged if you aren't picked. Now, if you are able to line up, please stand in front of me in a single file line." Immediately after saying it, everyone shot up from their chairs and ran to the front of the room, lining up. They were pushing each other and shoving, but eventually was able to form a line.

"Now, now, no pushing and shoving." Mrs. Poppy was smiling happily. The line of boys reached to the back of the giant room. I was the last person.

I wasn't able to hear some things that the front were saying, but when I got to the middle, I could see a group of boys in the corner, looking down at the floor. Pour souls probably didn't get picked. Matt Sloan was one of them and I was cheering on the inside. But I didn't cheer for long. I didn't get picked. At least, not that I know of.

There were only around four boys left in front of me. On the opposite side of the room, there were three boys lined up. He was going to adopt them. Something about two of them sent chills up my spine. What was it?

The other our boys that were in front of me looked down on the floor and walked to the rejected side of the room. There was a tingle that flowed through my body and I had a bad feeling.

Mr. Santos was right in front of me. When I was this close, I noticed things that I hadn't before. He was a well dressed man, but more extravagant than I've realized. He had intelligent blue eyes and his black hair was trimmed so that he had an average face. His features didn't stand out except for a scar that ran down his neck. He wore a green jacket with gold embroiled on and jewels stretching from his shoulders down to his thighs. His shoes in particular did not look comfortable, but it was one of the most beautifully decorated that I've seen.

When I was right in front of him, my eyes went straight up to my face. Everyone was watching, including the adopted boys. First mistake.

"Hasn't anyone told you to not look in the eyes of your superior?" he asked, the thick accent curling on his words. I kept my eyes on him.

"Who said that you're my superior?" Mrs. Poppy seemed enraged.

"Mr. Jackson! I insist that you talk to Mr. Santos in a softer tone or I will remove dinner tonight from you!" Mr. Santos chuckled.

"That's all right, Mrs. Poppy. I like the attitude in this one." Everyone seemed shock and I found out why. He was questioning me, unlike the rest of the boys that he met. "What is your name?" I smirked.

"Didn't you hear her say it? It's Jackson. Percy Jackson." There was snickering behind me.

"Well, Mr. Jackson, how would you feel if I adopted you?"

There was an outburst behind me.

"Him? You want him?" Matt Sloan exclaimed.

"Matthew!" Mrs. Poppy yelled. He was silent fast.

"Anyway, what would your answer happen to be." I shrugged. To tell you the truth, I didn't think that I'd ever be adopted, let alone from a rich man.

"I don't know," I said quietly. He squinted his eyes and nodded.

"Well, then, let's find out." I looked up at him shocked as he looked around the room and held up my right arm. "I have found my last boy. Thank you." People were groaning and he walked me to the other side of the room that the boys were located in. I recognized some of them immediately.

One of them was Jake. He was medium built, a little taller than me, with black hair and hazel eyes. The one next to him was Daniel. He was my height, with dark brown hair like mine, but longer and his eyes were blue instead. The last boy was Trevor, the boy that Mrs. Poppy had made me call down yesterday. Trevor wasn't necessarily bad. At least, not as bad as Matt Sloan. Trevor had held back when Matt and the other boys kicked me yesterday and he was obviously more educated than the rest of us. He told us once that he lived with his aunt and uncle, but they weren't able to take care of him. However, they gave him all the books that he could possibly find. Trevor, like all the other boys, had dark hair. His eyes were a slight tint of brown with green, almost hazel, but not all the way.

When the rest of the boys in the room were addressed out of the room, Mr. Santos walked over to us and cleared his throat, but didn't need to since the four of us stayed quiet.

"You are probably wondering why I chose you four. Well, I will tell you in a little while. First, let's go to my carriage." We followed him out to the entrance to the orphanage and standing by the lake, was a magnificent carriage decorated in silver décor. The curly q's were intricate, seeming impossible to design. Yet, it was right in front of me. The mares were beautiful as well. One was a chocolate brown horse, with a mane so soft that I could almost feel it from here. The other was a snow white horse that seemed calm and gentle.

Mr. Santos led all of us into the carriage. I wanted to go in, but for some reason, I was reluctant. He looked at me questioning as he noticed that I was hesitating to go in.

"What's wrong, Percy?" Huh, he had the decency to remember my name.

I shook my head. "Nothing." And I climbed into the carriage. Mr. Santos sat down, next to me. The other boys looked over at me with jealousy. I was sitting next to the richest man we've ever seen.

He called to the man that was driving the carriage to go. I noticed that there were also two other men sitting behind me, staring intently. I was uncomfortable, but ignored the feeling. Why would Mr. Santos have two people behind us? They were well built, with muscles bulging out. They seemed like twins, with red hair, freckles, and swords by their sides. My eyes widened when I saw them. Mr. Santos snapped me back.

"Now, you boys are actually picked for a special reason." There were a million questions that were running through my head. Why would Mr. Santos chose us? Me? And what was so special?

One question ran through my head, ringing out so loud, that I almost clasped my hands to my ears. Why do all the other boys look like me?

"First, I would like you boys to eat and rest. Being in that cramped home must have been hard." After an hour ride, Mr. Santos called out to the driver and we stopped. I stepped outside and breathed in the fresh air that was around me. The other three boys stepped out and did the same.

Suddenly, I had a bad feeling. About this. About this whole adopting thing. What was Mr. Santos going to do with us?

So I decided on one thing. To run. There can't be any other way out of this.

"Mr. Santos, I need to go." He looked at me weird, his eyes squinting, then, smiling.

"Okay." There were bushes, as tall as me and I ran to them while the other boys were all getting ready to talk to Mr. Santos.

I slowly crept to the back of the bush and peeked through a hole. No one was there. This is my chance.

I turn around and start running. I tried to best I could to make sure that I didn't make a sound and that no one was chasing me. It was like yesterday.

I could feel the wind catch in my hair as I took of as fast as I could. I turn back once more. No one.

Then, I stopped. I breathed heavy and looked behind me. No one was chasing me. I must have gone too far.

I smiled.

But it didn't last long as a sudden bang behind me knocked me off of my feet and onto the ground. The bandages on my head began to bleed through and my eye sight became blurry. The last thing I saw was a head of red before I blacked out into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up, disorientated again. The pain that was in my head was unbearable and I felt like throwing up. I tried to sit up straight, but there was something that wrapped around my feet and hands. Chains. I was chained.

Daniel was the first person to notice that I was awake.

"He's awake!" I wanted to shut him up, but I was afraid that I'd hurl if I talked. One of the burly men from before picked me up from the chains behind my back that were locking my hands together, and managed to pick up my whole body with it as well.

I understood what had happened when I thought back to it. The last thing I saw before blacking out was a head of red. It must have been one of Mr. Santo's thugs. They hit me on the head since they knew I was going to run.

"So, did you really think that you'd get away with it?" the thug that picked me up said. I squinted at his features as best as I could as he held a knife up to my cheek. He had freckles, like Jake, but his teeth were crooked and his hair was a big unruly mess.

"Santos said to not mess him up, so unless you want to keep your job, you better not harm a head on that boy." I turned around slowly to see Mr. Santo's other thug. He looked exactly like him, except something was different. He was a lot nicer, judging from what he said, but I can't trust someone like him.

"Don't worry, Don, I got him." The thug that was holding me up into the air lowered his head and whispered in my ear, "If you run away again, I'll personally take you out myself." I kept my cool and smirked, earning a slightly confused look from him.

"As if you'd be able to get me." I spat in his face and he turned bright red, the knife he held onto my cheek deepened. I winced in pain.

"Doug! No scars! Santo's orders." 'Doug' let go of me. Actually, it was more like he pushed me back down onto the dirty forest floor. I spit out the dirt that got into my mouth, but the dirt on my face and everywhere else on my body made it seem like a drop of water.

"Be careful of what you say, next time, boy." He sneered at me and walked away with Don. The other three boys stood in front of me as I tried to get up. The bandage that was wrapped around my head was gone and they were staring at me in horror.

"What are you looking at?" I asked them, sitting up. The backed off, but kept their grim faces.

"Next time, don't run. You almost got us in trouble." Trevor glared at me as the other boys walked away. I was still on the ground, glaring at him back. I could hear another set of footsteps, but louder. It must have been Mr. Santos.

He came back with Jake and Daniel by his side and he gave me an empty smile.

"How are you doing, Percy?" I glared at him.

"What do you want?" Santos chuckled.

"I was about to get to the good part when you ran off. Now, let's go back, shall we?" Doug had come back and pulled me up by the neck, leading me harshly deeper into the forest. I almost tripped, but the grip around my neck was so tight, I would have died from suffocation before I was able to fall from my injuries.

Santos, Daniel, Jake, Trevor, Doug, and Don had all walked over to a small lake. There was the carriage, the beautiful mares grazing on a clearing of grass. It had a plethora of wild grass, a small stream running down from the lake and Doug pushed me onto the ground, the chains still behind my back.

There was a small fire in the center, with logs around it as seats. I didn't get to sit on the seats, but I didn't care. I wanted to get out of here, quick.

The sun was setting and the evening darkness took place. Santos had food brought out from the carriage and lay them down on the ground on a small piece of fabric. The other boys looked at them hungrily, but I stayed calm and didn't take my eyes off of the three grown men in front of me.

"Let's play a little game, shall we?" Santos said, smiling. I wanted to punch him in the face, let him have it, but I might be beaten up by Doug once again.

The three boys shook their heads. I was forcefully pushed in the back and grunted a yes.

"Okay, let me know more about you boys. What's your name, hobby, all that?" He pointed to Daniel and he looked surprised, but slowly calmed down and introduced himself.

"I'm Daniel. I was born in Aquatica and my parents' didn't have the money to keep me so they sent me to the orphanage. When I was younger, I met up with a swordsman in the woods I wandered. He taught me a little about swordplay, but he disappeared in the war a few years ago. I haven't seen him since." Daniel's hair was longer than mine, a lot darker, and his eyes sparked with intelligence.

Santos smiled, obviously liking Daniel. He pointed to Jake next.

Jake, unlike everyone else, seemed nervous and scared, partly sick.

"Um, there's not really much to tell. I've been sick my whole life. I didn't really know much about my parents. No hobbies either."

Jake was one of those boys in the orphanage that weren't with the other boys who would push each other around. He was quiet, a little bit sick, but other than that, he must have been the only person that has talked to me. He seemed pretty nice.

Santos smiled, but it was a little suspicious and I was afraid of what might happen.

"What about you, Trevor?" Like all the others, Trevor had dark black hair, eyes almost green, and his lips curled with a mischievous tint.

"I'm Trevor. I had stayed with my aunt and uncle when I was younger, but they weren't able to take care of me, so I came by myself to the orphanage. I had also read many books when I was younger, so now, I know more than the average boy." He spat out the last word and turned towards me, but no one noticed besides us.

What a know it all. I want to punch him in the face. Like Doug.

"Ah, that's good. Background knowledge is good." Then, I was last. Santos turned to me. "What about you, Percy?" I didn't say anything at first, keeping my bangs over my eyes, but Doug kicked me in the back when the chains were still on.

"Take these chains off and I'll say it." Doug chuckled.

"Do you really think that-"

"Take them off," Santos said. Doug looked at him surprised.

"What?"

"I said take them off. I'd like to hear what Percy has to say." Doug didn't seem to like the idea, but he bent down and took off my cuffs.

"One move and I'll hurt you," he whispered. 'Good,' I thought. I don't need to to make you seem stupid.

"My name is Percy Jackson. Long story short, parents' died, brother missing, no background knowledge." They all stared at me, expecting me to say more, but I had nothing else to say. Santos cleared his throat.

"All right, boys. I'd like to now tell you the reason that I had brought you here. But first, is there someone that would like to go? Someone who thinks that is unfit?" I looked around. Jake's hand slowly raised up into the air. I looked at him and Santos smiled.

"Very well Jake. I'd like to warn you that if you leave, you would not be able to come back. This mission is very dangerous and treacherous. It can lead you to great rewards, fame, fortune. But if you fail, it can also lead you to a catastrophic death. It can lead to the end of the world. It'll mean Hades for you. So, are you up for it?" The way he said it sent chills down my spine. Daniel and Trevor seemed reluctant, but both shook their heads.

"Yes," they said in unison. "We are up for it." Only Jake and I was left.

"I'd like to drop out. I don't think that I'll be able to do the things you ask." Jake said. I shook my head. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

"Very well, Jake. Now, Doug, if you'd be kind and escort Jake out into the carriage. He will drive you back home to the orphanage."

Jake smiled. "Thank you." He got up and Doug escorted him out. But I thought about something. We were going to leave. The ride back to the orphanage can take hours. And what would we do? Sit here, with only a minimum of food? And that's when I figured out Santo's real intention.

"NO! JAKE!" I screamed. But it was already too late. Doug had put his arm around Jake, and in one swift, sickening motion, there was a crack, and Jake fell dead on the ground.

I shouted out loud and ran at Doug.

"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED AN INNOCENT PERSON! HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?" I punched Doug as hard as I could, but he was a lot stronger than I was, reaching behind my back and grabbing both my hands, dangling me in the air. I could feel a tear in my wound as I kept kicking at him. "YOU'RE SICK! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED HIM!"

I could see the other boys stand there, in horror, as they watched the whole thing happen. Jake wasn't going to go home. He was going to go somewhere a lot closer to the rest of us than home. He went to the Underworld.

I began to cry. Tears streamed down my face as I shared emotion for the first time in a while. Doug still had his arms grabbing mine as I dangle in the air in his grasp. I continue to kick, but it stopped after a while. He had killed Jake. He just killed him in front of me and he got away with it. But I realized that it wasn't Doug's fault. It was Santo's.

I shot him a glare as the tears calmed down, but he had no expression on his face as he said, "Let Percy go. He can sit over there while I explain the rest to them." Santos pointed to a corner near the logs, still next to the boy, but when Doug set me down, I turned around, sitting the opposite way so that I wouldn't be able to see his smug face.

"Well, since you have just seen Jake being killed, I'd like to tell you that there is no turning back now. If you leave, you will end up having a fate like Jake's." His voice was normal, that sick thing, and the other boys were quivering, I could tell. I hugged my knees as he kept talking. "Is there anyone else who'd like to drop out?" No one dared to raise their hand, nor did they make a sound. I was too depressed by the sudden death to even move.

"Well then, let me go on with the story. Who hear has heard of the king and queen?" What kind of question is that? Everyone knows the king and queen. The rich people who sit on the throne, watching over the kingdom that they inherited from their ancestors.

I could hear Trevor's voice answer the question, though it had a slight discomfort in it. I wouldn't blame him. After seeing all that, anyone would be traumatized.

"I've read about the king and queen of Aquatica. They also had a son, a prince who was suppose to inherit their royal fortune if the king and queen ever die. They live in the center of Aquatica, where they can watch over their people." I finally turned around slowly and had my tear stricken face look at them while they kept going on with the conversation.

"That is correct. The king and queen had a young boy. He was supposed to inherit the family throne after the king and queen die. He must wed the Princess of Alvy, a beautiful young maiden, so that the two kingdoms could unite. Does anyone here know about the rumors throughout the kingdom?" Once again, Trevor was the one to talk.

"Yes. There is a rumor going around saying that the princess of Alvy has gone missing. She disappeared around a year ago, presumably dead, but they still search for her everyday. Also, the king and queen of Aquatica were also rumored to have another child. Another young boy. He wasn't as successful as his elder brother, quite relentless, but otherwise, a perfectly young child." Santos grinned at the knowledge that Trevor had possessed. I had no idea about any of the things that he had just talked about.

"Very good, Trevor." He handed a piece of bread to him, but Trevor still looked too nervous and scared to eat. Next, he turned to Daniel.

Daniel looked scared. He was all strong and muscular, but he obviously lacked the support that Trevor had.

"And Daniel, since you know about swordsmanship, would you like to tell us what you would do? If a powerful swordsman comes at you, what would you do? He is bigger than you, stronger than you, and more powerful." Daniel said his answer almost immediately.

"That's easy. I'd fight him." I snorted, earning a look from everyone.

"I'd back down from the fight," Trevor said. Of course. Santos turned to me, his icy blue eyes looking right through me.

"What would you do, Percy Jackson?" I looked at him in disgust, but answered anyways.

"I'd fight." Trevor rolled his eyes.

"You obviously have no chance with him? What makes you think that you would be able to win? He is stronger than you, more powerful. You wouldn't be able to beat him in a million years."

"Who said anything about beating him? Santos asked a simple question. What would I do? This person is bigger than me, more powerful, and stronger. But does he have the wits to stand up? Even if he is bigger, he might lack agility or stamina, in which I provide. It's a win-win situation."

"But, that's against everything in swordsmanship. There has to be something against that. It can't be." I didn't have the energy to smirk.

"Well, you could die. Just try." And I went back to being quiet. Santos cleared his throat once more.

"Thank you boys for answering that question and telling us about yourself." He handed out a piece of bread to everyone, but I didn't eat it. I was too upset. He continued on.

"Now, I'd like to tell you the full story of my mission. If you do not wish to be hear, please leave." No one left, though I wanted to really badly. "Okay, so you are all in. I cannot guarantee you anything. There is only going to be one boy that I chose and that one boy will have to do what no other will. They must pretend to be the prince."

I whipped my head around in shock and the other boys' eyes bulged out.

"What?" I asked him, making sure that I was hearing right.

"One of you must pretend to be the prince."

It was confirmed. My death, at least. The prince? The PRINCE? The FREAKING PRINCE? Does he seriously think that one of us would end up being prince? None of us have royal blood in ourselves, nor do we have the knowledge and strength to match up with him.

We were orphan boys. Once an orphan, always an orphan. There is no way that he's going to turn us into a prince.

Every kept staring at him like he was crazy, but Santos went on.

"The rumor that you have heard about the king and queen's other son is partly true. Their first son, the successor, is the elder brother of another young child. However, this young child is the king's son, but not the queen's." Everyone gasped but me, though I was just as surprised. "It is said that the king had an affair with another woman who was in the castle, though they had never found out who she was. Her son was left in the castle and the king took him in as his own. But somehow, a few years ago, the son disappeared. Some say that he was fooling around and fell into the mighty sea that churns next to Aquatica. Others say that he was banished and to never be seen again. But the most plausible theory that townsfolk are coming up with is that the young prince was murdered when he was ten. I am of royal blood, being distance relatives to the royal family, but not enough to grant me any power. Even though, I do have the right to know what happened. And now, I'm sharing it with you boys.

"Only one of you will be able to become prince. I am giving you only a month to prepare for next month, the royal meeting that will be established in the castle. You must be the prince by then, or suffer the consequences of being caught. If you do live up to being prince, you can dream of all the gold and jewels and it would definitely be yours. But in a case where you fail...let's say that you'll say hello to your pal Jake once again." We all gulped.

"But what do you want?" I asked. Trevor hushed me, but I defended myself. "There's always a catch." Santos had an evil gleam in his eyes.

"That's right. There is something I want in return. But are you boys willing to bet your life on this? To be or not to be the successor of the elder prince?" There was a silence but I tried not to let it get to me. Surprisingly, I was the first person to answer.

"Definitely."

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**This chapter is a little shorter, but thank you all for reading my new story!**


	3. Chapter 3

Early in the morning, the next day, Santos brought us back into the carriage and explained the rest of his plan to us. I barely had enough sleep from the night before when Jake was killed.

"Alright, you boys. I am now about to bring you to my house." He was correct. A while later, I peered out the window and gasped as I saw the beautiful mansion that was centered in a meadow, full of flowers, grass, and trees. Horses grazed around and butteries were fluttering in the air.

"When we reach my house, I have servants who are going to assign you to your room. All three of you will stay in the same bedroom, using the same bathroom. For today, I will let you use three different bathrooms, since you are all so filthy. After bathing, my servants will bring you down to dinner, where I will treat you with food so luxurious, that you might want to stay forever." Fat chance, Santos.

"We will begin our training tomorrow. Doug here will teach you swordsmanship and battle, while Don will teach you how to ride a horse bound gracefully across the acres of land that I have. There will be one day that a royal family member from Alvy will visit so I need your full cooperation. You only have one month to complete all these tasks. Or die trying." His voice was deep, sending chills up my spine.

We rode the rest of the way, quiet with anticipation, anxiety, and sadness. My face was down low, afraid with what will happen next.

As we reached the mansion by carriage, it was even more dazzling than I thought. Gargoyles surrounded the top of the mansion, Doric structures placed all around it. There were many windows, almost too many to count, and a gigantic clock was stuck on the middle of the top floor.

Don and Doug ushered us in. When we were inside, my eyes widen in amazement. A huge chandelier hung above us, the stairs leading up to many other floors. Servants were lined in front, maids right on the other side. The paintings that were bound across the room were so intricate, that it looked like if you missed one brush stroke, the whole thing will shatter.

The rest of the boys thought so too as they stared up at the ceiling, which looked a lot like the sky. Santos suddenly clapped and three young servants stepped up, all dressed in nice tailored suits and leather shoes. Santos pointed each of them to one of us and my servant walked over.

"Hello, my name is Grover, sir." Grover was wearing the suit and the shoes, but what stood out was that he had a wispy beard, acne, and seemed to limp. His voice was a little shaky, seeming like he was more nervous than usual. I wouldn't blame him. I was the only one of the four boys to stand up from Santos.

"Grover. What a peculiar name." Santos cleared his throat, getting our attention once more.

"These servants are assigned to you for the rest of this month. Now, if you please do so, servants, lead the young boys to the bath house in the three vacant rooms. Make sure that the boys have their own set of clothing and bring them down to dinner after bathing. Absolutely clean, you got it? No dirt or grime." The servants nodded and led us upstairs to the second floor.

Grover led me up to a marvelous suite that was on the left side of the long hallway. It was amazing, a whole lot better than Mrs. Poppy's orphanage. They probably already got rid of my room.

"This will be your bath," he said, bringing me into the clear white bathroom. He stood there, not moving, while my clothes were placed by the sink. I cleared my throat and he chuckled.

"Okay. Santos said that you will have to bath until you are squeaky clean, so please make sure that you're getting out clean." I nodded at his request and he walked out, leaving me.

I turned on the bath, though it was already filled with water, and jumped in after I had taken off my clothes. The coldness of the water stung on my body, but suddenly the warmth kicked in and I lie back.

I thought about Santos's plan. Is it really a plan? More like a plot. What was he trying to do? And what did he want? There has to be something. Maybe another way to gain power from the royal family.

The royal family. No one but snobby, snooty, rich people that take poor care of their country. I had strongly resented the royal family, however I never told anyone about that. Not like I knew anyone.

I found myself falling asleep a little while after.

I was in the woods, running again. But not from the group of boys that were trying to hurt me again. This time, I was running away from my past.

I kept running until I stumbled over a rock. The pain that shot up my leg felt so real. The dream was so vivid. The voices behind me were calling out my name, trying to catch me, like giant hands.

I got up again and kept running. I was running out of breath. I couldn't breath. I stopped, trying again, but I couldn't breath in, nor out. But why had I not died yet? Was it because they wanted me to suffer? My past? My family?

I had no breath. I couldn't breath, but for some reason, I was still alive. I have no soul, no inner self. I was alone. Alone in this world.

I woke up with a start, splashing the water while Grover kept knocking on the door.

"Sir, sir, are you done? Hello? Please let me in!" I shook my head, trying to keep it on straight.

"I-I'm fine. I'll be out in just a minute. Please wait." I took the scrub that was on the side of the bath and tried to scrub as hard as I could, until the water turned murky and grimy.

After letting the bath water drain out, I refilled it and soaked in it again for a little. For some reason, my fingers didn't prune.

I got out and reached for the clothes that were neatly stacked by the sink. A white silk, dress shirt, pants that seemed to be made out of some sort of soft cotton, coated in a black dye, and a neat pair of leather shoes, like the ones the servants wear, but not as neat as Santos's.

I looked at my mirror once more and checked if there was any dirt on me. I actually didn't look half bad in what I was wearing and my dark brown hair was parted to the side, but came back in front of my eyes as I turned.

I walked out of the room to meet Grover.

"Sir, you look splendid! This will impress Santos." I smiled.

"Please, don't call me sir. Percy. Call me Percy." Grover smiled as well.

"I will only call you Percy when Master Santos is not listening to me, because it's his order that we call you three sirs." I nodded and followed him downstairs.

I had still not gotten over the dream. It was so real. I could almost see the hands reach me, taking out the last of my breaths, and leaving me empty. I kept turning around, just to make sure that the hands weren't reaching out from the dark hallways.

As it turns out (not surprisingly) I was last and the others had to wait till I got there. I was seated next to Santos again, causing jealousy to rise up in the other two's throats. They probably think that Santos likes me the best. I can use that to my advantage.

Santos clapped and we all turned to him.

"You boys actually cleaned up quite well." He was right. Daniel was dressed in the same white shirt, but with a different color pants, almost blue. His muscles were pushing against the shirt, but it fit him well. Trevor wore the same, but gray pants. He was leaner than the both of us, but his outfit fit him. All of us had dark hair and eyes almost green. Santos had also changed his clothes, wearing a tailored blue jacket with golden designed, white pants, and shoes that tied up to his middle calves.

"I am sure that you boys are hungry, so I would now like to show you what you'll be eating like for the next month." He snapped his fingers and doors around the incredible diner opened and maids brought them in, setting them on the tables.

Everyone looked at them hungrily. It was the most luxurious food that I have ever seen, like Santos had said. Roasted chicken, steamed vegetables, a fruit cornucopia, lots more and even a glass of buttermilk to drink it all down.

"You may begin." The other two boys started to eat while I looked at it hesitantly. My mind was blank from the dream. Daniel shoved the food in his face, while Trevor tried to impress Santos by using table manners. Santos seemed only interested in how I acted.

"Percy, why aren't you eating? Considering what happened, I would be surprised to see you in this state." I looked at him blankly, but answered.

"Nothing." He decided to let it go and I started to eat.

The chicken pretty much melted in my mouth and I haven't eaten a meal like this in a very long time. I gulped down a glass of buttermilk and chugged down a bowl of soup after. A small smile cam over my face and Santos smiled.

"How do you like the meal so far, Percy?" I gave him a small smile and continued eating while he asked the other two boys to same question. I decided to ask about this to one of the maids that brought over the food.

She was standing right next to me, as I asked her, "How is this food so enjoyable?" She didn't say anything as she gave me a cold stare.

The maid was a young woman, around my age, with long, curly hair, and eyes so gray that it looked like a storm was brewing. She was of medium height and seemed to have no interest in the dinner. More like she might be making a plan already in her head, like someone you don't want on your bad side. Too bad for me, though.

When I looked at her eyes, there was a spark and my jumped. It wasn't from the nervousness or anything, but from something else. It was almost like I've seen her before. Somewhere before...

"Annabeth, please answer the answer that master Percy had asked you," another maid asked angrily, pushing Annabeth to the side. I wanted to stand up for her, but that would've caused too much information.

Annabeth gave me a stone hard glare as she looked me right in the eyes and said, "It must be because you haven't experienced it. Master Santos has explained to the chef that they must make their best dishes. Please enjoy."

She said each word with her teeth gritted together. She made no intent on paying anymore attention to me and I continued on with dinner until the end.

During it, I kept making eye contact with Annabeth and a spark ignited between us. But everytime that I did, she would glare back, making me look back down at my dinner.

"I would keep explaining the details and the background knowledge of the young prince," Santos continued, when we were eating our final course and on with the cake. He whispered to one of the servants and he told the others to go back to the kitchen. This was confidential. " Who here knows what the young prince is capable of?"

Trevor's hand raised immediately.

"Yes, Trevor?"

"The young prince of Aquatica was said to be mischievous, and the complete opposite of his successful brother. The king had no intention of having an affair with someone other than the queen, but even though the queen was very angered about it, she took care of the child. However, it was the king who loved the young prince the most, giving him all of his love while the older son was praised by his mother and the country." Santos smiled at his knowledge.

"Very good, Trevor. Now, I would like Daniel to answer this one." Daniel sat up straighter, and listened intently on his question.

"Daniel, how did the prince go missing?" Now this was an easy question.

"The young prince was said to have disappeared two years ago when he turned ten. Others say that he fell into the sea. No one really knows what happened to the prince, but people are still on the search for him." Santos smiled and nodded. Then, he turned to me and asked the last question.

"Percy, and why do you think that you boys are here." I kept my face blank of any emotion and answered hi question.

"We're supposed to pretend to be him." Santos nodded, but added more.

"Not pretend. You are going to be him. Each and every one of you will have the chance to try to become the prince. At the end of the month, I will choose who will be worthy. Also, as I had said before, there will be a time when someone of royal blood from the kingdom of Alvy will come forward and greet you. I will need you boys to blend in with the others and I will give you more information on it when it happen. This means that this has to be a secret. You cannot tell anyone about this or your fate will end up as the same as Jake's. No one must recognize you when you complete the transaction of becoming prince. When the time comes, I expect you to keep your head up high." As he explained everything, I found him looking straight at me, like I was something of importance.

"Now, off to bed." We had finished eating dinner and our servants brought us back up to our room that we all shared. We walked in and I walked over to the bed nearest to the big window and plopped down.

"This is my bed," I told them. They scoffed.

"That's not fair." I glared at them.

"Nothing is fair, okay? We're in this huge mess and nothing is fair. Deal with it." They seemed taken back a little, but let it go and sat down on their bed.

After a little while, we had all changed into our night clothes, a silk shirt with pants. The other boys began to do whatever they did. Trevor began to read, not surprising, and Daniel fell asleep, snoring loudly. I lay back on the soft and comfortable bed, staring up at the ceiling like I did when I was at the orphanage.

"Do you think that you'll make it?" Trevor asked me, suddenly. I didn't know what to answer with.

"I don't know." I wasn't sure what the outcome of this big situation is. "I guess that I just want to get out. Alive." I heard Trevor snicker.

"Well, what ever happened to Jake will happen to you. Unlike you, I am actually going to try my best. I don't need the competition." I chuckled.

"What able Daniel?"

"Daniel? I don't think that he's going to be a big problem. It's a specific person that's in my way." And he closed his books, turned off the lamp, and drifted off to sleep. I was the only one awake a few minutes later.

I decided not to go to sleep, the main reason was because of Daniel's snore, and began to walk to the window and opened it as quietly as I could. I opened it and a blast of fresh air brush through my hair, my cheeks cutting through the wind. I smell the salty breeze of the ocean that was nearby. It was calm, not roaring like I thought it would. I carefully climbed out of the window and looked back, making sure that no one was looking.

We were three stories up, but I didn't feel any different when I looked down. I wasn't afraid of heights. I shuffled on the thin ledge and reached another window. It was Santos's room. I decided not to check his, just in case.

I continue and reached another window. Suddenly, the lights turned on, blinding me from the inside. The light suddenly turned to a small gleam and I peered through the windows. Who I saw surprised me.

It was Annabeth.

She looked at me shell shocked and faltered a bit. There was no one else in the room, thank gods, and she opened up the window and I crawled in.

I landed on my feet and Annabeth had her hands crossed, the fire lamp by what seemed like her bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Are you questioning me?" I asked her. She scoffed.

"I should be able to. You don't have power. Santos does. And from what I see, Santos hasn't granted you any power besides your servant, so don't act all cocky with me, Percy Jackson." I smiled and her eyes widened again when she said my name.

"How do you know my name?" She stuttered her answer.

"N-no reason. Anyway, you didn't answer my question."

"You answer mine first."

"I already did."

"That wasn't an answer. Give me a real one."

"I asked you first." Her arms were still crossed and she shifted her weight from side to side. I sighed. This girl is good.

"Fine. I just wanted to roam around this place. Get to know the place I'm going to call home for the next month." She nodded, understanding my situation.

"Well, stay safe." She was about to open the window once again, but I stood in front of her before she did.

"Wait. Can you..." I blushed from the embarrassment and couldn't find a good way to ask her this. "Do you think that you...Can you..."

"Spit it out, Jackson."

"Annabeth, do you think that you can teach me more about being a prince?" She looked at me just as surprised as before.

"What?"

"You heard me. I mean, you seem to know a lot, seeing that you must've stayed here for a long time. So, will you help me or not?" She shrugged.

"What's it for me?" I didn't have anything to give her. So I thought of the only thing that I could.

"I'll tell you more about my past." Her eyebrow raised and she seemed clearly interested in my offer. There were a few seconds of silence. Then, she agreed.

"Alright. Let's see what you got, Jackson." She walked over and grabbed two small pillows and placed it at the window edge. "Come here every day, after the other two are asleep. I'm the only on in this room, so it'll be easy. The hard part is passing Santos's room. Be careful. I will teach you things that you will need to know."

She sat down and I sat in front of her.

"I'm ready," I said. She nodded.

"Alright. First, I need to know a little about you." I shrugged.

"Not much to know. Percy Jackson, twelve."

"Family?"

"None. Parent's dead, brother missing." She seemed suspiciously about that, but kept going.

"Alright, Percy. What do you want to know?" I thought for a bit. There were so many questions that were running through my head, all of which I wanted to ask her. But I asked her the first one that came to my head.

"Why is Santos planning this?" She shook her head.

"I don't know. All I do know is that one of you is supposed to replace the prince. You all look like him." I looked down at my hands. "Though I'm pretty sure that he's already explained that to you."

"I wonder how the royal family feels." She gave me a melancholy look and lifted up my chin so that I was looking directly in my eyes.

"Everything will be alright."

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**Whoops! I uploaded the wrong chapter. Slight Percabeth. Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke up in my bed, Grover nagging at my side.

"Sir, wake up. Sir, please wake up." I shot my eyes open and got up, stretching my sides. I look at Grover with sleepy eyes and he handed me a hot towel to wipe my face with.

"Why is it this early?" I asked him while he was helping me dress.

"Master Santos said that the prince to be is supposed to wake up early for his duties, sir." I nodded.

"Percy. Just call me Percy."

"I'm sorry, sir- I mean, Percy." I smiled and as I put on my shirt, I looked over to see that Daniel and Trevor had already left. Those two probably want to impress Santos.

I dragged myself into the bathroom and got myself more cleaned up. I combed my hair, but it fell back down in front of my face, earning an exasperated sigh from me. Whatever. I just have to bear it.

I speed walked down the stairs to meet the other three in the dining room.

"Good Morning, Percy Jackson," Santos introduced, in another one of his nice outfits.

"Morning," I grumbled back. The other two grumbled as well and I sat down in my seat. Santos clapped and the maid brought in my food. I started to eat when I remembered what happened the last night.

Annabeth was the one that served me the food and my eyes widen when I saw a small mark on her arm, a small purple bruise. I was about to ask her what happened when I realized what that Santos and the others were here. If they found out I was socializing with one of Santos's maids, I'd be for sure killed for cheating.

Annabeth walked away, clutching her arm and wincing in pain. I didn't remember hurting her last night. Just the lesson that she had taught me about being prince. Which brings me back to my first point about not mentioning that I'm having lessons with Annabeth.

"Alright boys, today will be your first lesson. Doug will be teaching you the arts of swordsmanship. Please eat your breakfast and meet him outside." Great. Now, he can beat me up all he wants, not leave a scratch, and Santos won't get mad about it.

I forcefully ate my breakfast and the other two sprang up from their chairs, especially Daniel, and walked straight over to the Doug, who was outside, probably stabbing dummies and cutting their heads off.

After breakfast, I walked outside to the clear day and found the others by the arena that was located a few yards away from the mansion.

"Jackson! Get your butt here!" Doug yelled. I gave him a glare which went unnoticed. As I reached them, Doug threw me a sharp sword, at least three feet long, and it shot right past my ear, onto the ground. I stared shocked at him.

"You could've killed me!" Doug chuckled, amused by the fact that the sword almost pierced right through me.

"But it didn't. Now come on and pick up the sword." I cringed and picked up the sword front eh ground, weighing it in my hands. I looked at it when it was out of its sheath and the sword glowed bronze. There were small letters engraved on it.

"This is a fake," I said." They all looked at me weird, but I wield it in my hands.

"What did you say, punk?" Doug growled at me. I didn't flinch.

"I said, this is a fake." He marched over and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and looked me right in the eyes.

He asked me once more, slower and deeper.

"What did you say, punk?" I chuckled.

"I said," I said slowly, "this is a fake." He pushed me out of his hands and shoved me onto the ground. I looked up at him standing in front of me.

"Don't act cocky, boy! If you can't respect your sword, how do you expect yourself to become a respected swordsman?" I snickered.

"I don't care if I'm not a respected swordsman. It has nothing to do with anything. I just said that the sword's a fake, not that it's necessarily a bad thing." I pointed over to the other two. "They have the same swords. It's a replica of the prince's sword, which was lost when he disappeared. Daniel should know that this is a fake, but with you talking like that, I wouldn't blame them for being scared of you." Doug looked like he wanted to dig my grave, but he continued on with the lesson, gritting his teeth.

"You boys will now learn the art of swordsmanship. This sort of art has been passed down for many generations and have been spread around since the last century. I will only teach you the way the prince was taught, however. So, I'm going to teach you defense instead of offense, though you will need both to succeed. After the month, I will have the final match and the one who best depicts the prince will be picked. I can't say the same with the other two." Everyone gulped but me.

"This is going to be a piece of cake," Daniel muttered under his breath, though he had insecurity in his voice. Trevor looked terrified. He didn't say anything yet, but when the time comes, he's going to be yapping away.

"Now, I would need you boys to answer a few questions. Trevor!" Trevor shot up and looked terrified at Doug. "What has the sword been used as for much of the medieval period?" Trevor didn't look like he knew the answer, earning a snicker from me.

"Um...It's...I'm sorry, sir. I don't know." Doug didn't look mad at him though.

"Daniel, what about you?" Daniel shot up just as Trevor had done, but there was excitement in his face.

"The sword was a symbol of status. It shows people how powerful you are." Daniel looked happy with himself. Doug seemed happy with him as well and I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my face from Trevor's embarrassment.

"Good job, boy. I will make you the first boy in the class. Now, if you two want to catch up to him, you better do some work. Santos," he pointed up to a window, "will be watching you from now and then, making the decision in his head. Now, I will ask you a question that Santos had asked before, but paraphrase your answer. If you were against a good swordsman, would you step up to fight him, or beg for mercy, to not be killed and have your life sparred as a coward?"

Daniel answered immediately.

"I'd fight because if I die, I know I'd go down fighting." Doug looked impressed and Daniel couldn't hide the satisfaction in his face.

"Trevor," he called next. There was still swear streaming down his face, but me composed himself and kept his answer.

"I'd step down from the fight." Doug looked at him questioningly.

"Why do that, Trevor?"

"If this person is clearly a good swordsman, than there's no reason why I should fight. I'd go down anyways. I wouldn't risk my life for it." Even though Doug didn't like that answer, he was okay with it, since it wasn't me.

"Percy," he snarled. I smiled.

"I'd beg for mercy." I heard the three of them snicker, however, I didn't finish my sentence. "Then, when I lower his guard and he thinks that I gave up, I'd attack him." Trevor disagreed.

"There's no way a swordsman, who's been in the arts of swordsmanship, can be beaten by someone like you. Everything you said is against the art of it." I shook my head.

"Doug asked what I would do against a good swordsman. Not a master swordsman. And even if he was, I'd still fight him because Doug didn't say that he knew the art of swordsmanship, just that he was a swordsman. Daniel is and he's just started. If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well fight back with my life. Die trying, or die a coward."

Trevor's cheeks darkened with color and I mentally high-fived myself. If I could make sure that he didn't get in front of me, it'll be long enough to go with my plan.

"You boys have all answered the simplest of questions. Remember this for your first lesson." The sword he handed me was still in my hands and I stared at it hesitantly.

"Do you boys have any background knowledge with sword fighting?" Trevor shook his head, but Daniel raised his hand and I didn't say anything.

"Percy, is that a definite yes or no." I shrugged.

"I'm not sure." He seemed aggravated with my answer.

"What do you mean, you don't know? It's either a yes or a no." I picked yes.

"Yes." He eyed my suspiciously, then, a smug smile came across his face.

"Alright, let's see what you got." I mentally face palmed myself for my big mouth.

Doug sent me back to the other side of the arena, across from him, and sent me with his sword while he stood with a ready stance. I held the fake replica sword in my hands, and wielded it in front of me.

"Be ready, boy!" he called from the other side. Daniel and Trevor stood in the middle, watching us with evil smiles on their faces. Oh, they must be enjoying this. "Ready?"

"No," I grumbled.

"Go!" Doug ran right for me and I ran as well. When we were only a foot away, he swung his sword, which I blocked with mine. My sword was weaker than his, a disadvantage for being a replica.

"You better watch your mouth, Jackson."

I gritted my teeth and gave a glare. When my arm was weakening, I quickly jump back, avoiding the slash that could've cost me my stomach. When I had stepped back, there was a small opening for Doug and he took it. His sword stabbed through the air and almost hit my arm, but luckily I opened my arm away from my body. When he retreated it, I took the chance, not to fight, but to back up.

"Watcha doin', boy? Tired already?" He chuckled and I smiled smugly at him. His smiled disappeared right after.

"Not a chance." I side stepped from his second stab and blocked it with my sword. I put immense power in it and he seemed to struggle with it from slicing his cheek. He stepped back this time and I found his weakness. I jab the air right in front of him, but he blocked it.

"Don't think that you'll be able to get away with it." I smiled once again.

"Don't worry. I will." And I quickly ducked down and kicked his legs, causing him to fall on the ground and me to disarm him from his sword and bring the sword up to his throat.

I was breathing heavy, but Doug's eyes were big with shock. I smiled as we stayed like that for a while, then got up and brushed the dirt from my shirt and pants.

Doug got up, but his face had darkened in color.

"You...that...what was that? I've never seen a style like that."

I chuckled again. "There's nothing to it. I said that I could fight. And I've proven it to you." Doug seemed angry with it and carried on with the other two. During the rest of the swords training, I was partly excluded from the group.

I looked up at the window that lead to Santos's room. I couldn't tell if he was watching or not, but I'm going to have to watch my back at all times. Santos probably has to work on our schedules and how we're going to become the prince, though I had a feeling that he was watching us the whole time. Watching me.

When we finished up the swords fighting, I was covered in sweat, but the other two looked worse. Especially Trevor.

We had to get cleaned up in the mansion and go to the library for our class with Mrs. Donovan. She was a worker there, but ended up teaching us since her late father was a working librarian in the town of Aquatica. Mrs. Donovan was a thin old woman with gray hair and glasses that hung on her nose.

"All right, you boys, I need you to sit over here," she pointed to three seats that were seated next to one another. I chose the one closest to the window, like my bed. Trevor sat next to me, then Daniel. We faced a black board with chalk markings. Typical classroom.

"Today, you will be learning to read and write. The prince of Aquatica knew how to read and write, but you three are at an advantage, since the prince hated to do so. That means that you won't have to learn all that much, but still meet up to the same standards as the young prince of Aquatica." everyone nodded and she handed out text books. "I've heard that Trevor here has some background knowledge." Trevor looked proud when Mrs. Donovan pointed him out in front of us.

"Yes, ma'am. I've lived with family before I wandered over to the orphanage. They taught me a little about reading and writing." Mrs. Donovan nodded and smiled. Great. Another bias.

Lessons started after Mrs. Donovan lectured me about how to sit on my chair. She said it so many times that I could repeat it in my head and have no recollection of the things she just said.

"Sit up straight, Mr. Jackson, and keep you feet off of the table," I mumbled under my breath, imitating her. Luckily, no one heard me, but I didn't stay like that since Mrs. Donovan called on me next to read the paragraph.

I had lost track off all the things she said.

"I'm sorry, I don't know where we're at," I told her. She looked disdained at me, like I was a piece of a moldy sandwich, and asked, "Have you been listening to anything I've said?" I shook my head truthfully.

"No." She stayed the way she was and returned to the other two boys. I already knew that she hated me, but I didn't care. Doug already hates me. Trevor hates me. One more person won't make a difference.

Before we finished with the whole lesson, I stared out the window and looked at the horses that were roaming the meadow. I wanted to run. I wanted to get away from all this. I hadn't noticed how much freedom I wanted until now. But it was already too late. I got myself into this mess and if I don't get myself out of it quick, it'll cost me my life. Or the lives of others.

I thought about some of the things that had happened a while back, before I ended up in the orphanage. My family, my friends, my enemies. Then, everyone disappeared in my life. Just, poof.

"Mr. Jackson!" Mrs. Donovan called. I turned around to find her fuming at me. "I will not tolerate people like you in my classroom if you are not to listen!" I felt the anger boil inside of me. I wanted to lash out at her, but kept my cool.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Donovan." She didn't look satisfied with my answer, but let it go.

"Alright, you boys may now go." We packed up all our things and I was the last to leave the classroom, earning a glare from Mrs. Donovan. Great.

"Percy, you were suppose to listen to the lecture," Trevor exclaimed as we were walking down the halls and outside to the stables. Horse riding lessons.

"Well, if it weren't so boring, maybe I would've listened." Trevor snickered.

"You know, if you aren't going to take this seriously, then you're going to die."

"What do you care if I don't succeed? You want to be prince, don't you? Be my guest. But I'm always going to be an orphan. Once an orphan, always an orphan." I walked past him and met Daniel, who was already down at the stables.

This time, we were having lessons with Don, I'm guessing the nicer of the twins. Trevor reached us and I didn't turn around to face him. Don walked into the stables, which was lined with horses. The two beautiful horses I saw were also there, feasting on the stack of hay that was in their stable.

"Now, I need you three to pick one horse. Then, we'll start lessons." Don walked over to what I guessed was his horse, which was the pure white one that brought us to the mansion. Trevor walked over to a horse with speckled brown spots and a cream color coat. Daniel picked the horse that was chocolate brown, it's black mane flowing down it's sides. There were many horses, but I picked the one that stood out the most. It was the black horse that brought us side by side with the white horse to the mansion.

"Good choice you boys. But Percy, do you really want to pick this horse?" He pointed over to the horse I had chosen and I nodded.

"Yeah. It reminds me of something." Don nodded.

"Well, let me warn you, even though we rode with it to the mansion, that's a feisty one. You better be careful." I understood.

"Yeah." And we started the lessons.

"Make sure that the reins are always in front of you. When you want the horse to run, yelled, 'Kya!' and it'll start off running. If you want it to walk, or slow down, pull on the reins gently and the horse will stop. Make sure that the horse is in good conditions when it is being used. Remember, it's a living creature and it needs food, water, and shelter. The saddle has to be tight around the waist of the horse, but if you want to ride horseback, with no saddle, make sure you hold on tight." He showed us how to do each an every one of the things.

Trevor tried first, but miserably failed as he almost fell off his horse. He was too weak to pull on the reins. Daniel didn't do any better. He was trying way too hard. I slowly got my horse to walk, then, run around the cones that were set up on the course in the field.

"Good job, Percy." I smiled as I rode with the horse around the field, without any guidance. The wind was in my hair and I realized how much I missed it.

I walked the horse back to the stables as the time for the lesson was ending and put it back into its stables. I took off my helmet and gave it to Don. Trevor and Daniel were standing at the entrance, all covered in dirt. Their horses were already back in and they looked displeased with the outcome.

"Percy, that was good horseback riding." I smiled and the other two had their arms crossed.

"Thank you."

"That was really surprising too. Usually, that horse is up to no good. It's Santos's prized mare." My eyes widen in surprise. "It only listens to Santos, but when I saw how confidently you walked up to the horse, I was shocked. Its not accustomed to stay calm when a someone other than Santos walks up to it." I took this in. I was able to control the prized mare that Santos earned. Does this mean that I'm just as good as him? Does it mean that Santos is just like me?

However many times I put it together, I kept denying it. I didn't want to be like Santos. Not at all.

We walked back to the mansion and took a long bath. The sun had already set and the day ended with sore muscles and sweaty skin. I trudged to the bathroom that I was allowed to use and took a nice long bath. I came out and the other two waited for me to go to dinner.

"Hurry up. We can't eat without you coming." I nodded and followed them downstairs. Santos was seated in his usual spot and smiled at the three of us as we sat down.

"Welcome boys, to another dinner. I'm proud of the work you boys have put in today. Though there were some things I want to address." He began to talk to Daniel about the horse and Trevor about the swords fighting. As they were chatting, I met Annabeth's eyes and she walked over, bringing me my dinner.

"Make sure you meet me today. It's urgent," she whispered, the small bruise still on her. No one noticed and I slightly nodded. There must be something going on.

"Percy," Santos called and I snapped out of my daydreaming.

"Yes?"

"I heard that you had trouble in class." I nodded.

"That is correct, sir."

"Well, since the prince wasn't an easy learner himself, I'm letting you off just this time. But you have to make sure that you pay attention at tomorrow's lesson." I groaned to myself, but nodded.

"Yes, sir." Santos smiled.

"But, I would like to say that you did very well during swords fighting and especially well with the horses." A blanket of warmth spread through me and I tried not to let those words affect me. "Now, enough chatting. Let's eat."

* * *

**I would just like to say that this isn't a romance story. There might be some Percabeth, but not a whole lot. It's more of maturity and discovery, as well as adventure. Anyways, thank you so much for reading!**


	5. Chapter 6

After we finished eating, I walked back up to my room with Trevor and Daniel. They were talking to one another and chatting. I was the last one to walk into my room and my gaze immediately fell on the window. I remembered. I was supposed to meet Annabeth tonight. She said that she had news.

"Maybe Santos will be able to reconsider about the 'only one boy' part," Daniel said. I silently scoffed so the others couldn't hear, but I really doubt that Santos was able to do that.

The other two kept chatting and I was almost agitated. I wanted them to fall asleep so that I could sneak out of the place.

'Blah, blah, blah,' was all I heard from them when I lay down on my bed. Even though I didn't listen, they were probably talking about overthrowing me. Since I was a bigger threat, it'd make sense if that happened.

"Go to sleep already!" I yell at them, covering my ears with my pillow. I pretended that I was trying to fall asleep. It worked.

"Fine, Mr. Narcissus. We'll let you have your beauty sleep," Trevor sneered. I wanted to run up and punch him in the face, but I kept my cool and rubbed it off of me.

"Good night," Daniel said, sleepily. Trevor did the same and I listened for their snores.

It happened a little while later when I heard their soft snores and shifting in their beds. I made sure that they were asleep by coughing. They didn't do anything.

I quietly got up from my bed and made sure that my feet weren't creaking on the ground. I slowly tip toed over to the window and opened the window. It clicked open and a bead of sweat rolled down my face. I turn back and sighed a breath of relief. They weren't awake.

I continue to open the window, just enough for me to slip through the small opening. I crept out of the window and silently closed the window. I peered inside and saw that they were both sleeping like babies in their crib. I didn't get how they were able to. One of them might die.

I looked to my left and saw that the light to Santos room was on. I quietly cursed and shuffled across the roof of the mansion. I climbed on top of Santos's window so that I couldn't see in, but he couldn't see my out either. But suddenly, I heard his voice.

"-make sure that he's the one." A pause. "I know if I'm right or not, but I'm almost positive. Anyways, I'll kill the other two. Don't worry it'll be after this month. I might have already made my choice. I choose-" My foot had slipped and banged on Santos's window as I shuffled to Annabeth's window. I muffled a scream and gulped it down. Oh no.

I could hear my heart beating in the dead silence as I saw Santos's shadow walk over to the window, open the latch, and peer out. He looked down, as if he were expecting someone was throwing rocks at him. He turned to his left, the direction that I came from. My breathing had stopped and I was going to get caught. I was dead.

Suddenly, a hand came over my mouth and dragged me inside the window. I fell into the next room a millisecond before Santos had turned to find me.

I lay on the ground, looking up at the ceiling, and breathing heavy, like I had ran ten miles. The adrenaline in my body had not yet subsided, but for now, I was trying to make sure that I was alright. Annabeth's head popped over mine and I was staring at her gray eyes.

"What were you doing?" she whispered, in a demanding tone. I blinked a couple of times, making sure that I wasn't hallucinating, and stood up. I wobbled over and would've fallen on the ground if Annabeth weren't there to catch me.

She felt my skin, eyes wide, then, put her hand on my forehead.

"Percy, you're burning up." I shook my head and replied.

"I'm fine. It's just the adrenaline. Anyways, Santos almost caught me. If it weren't for you, I would've been a dead orphan." She pursed her lips and whacked me on the back of my head.

"Ow, what was that for?" She glared.

"For being such a Seaweedbrain!" Her voice was a whisper, but it was demanding. Then, her lips curled up at the end. "At least you're alright. I needed to tell you some important news." She walked over to the window, closed it, and sat by the ledge, peering outside. I walked over and sat across from her.

"What's going on?" I ask her. She took a while to answer.

"They're coming." I looked at her confused.

"Who's coming?"

"They are." I was still just as confused.

"Well, thanks for making that so much clearer." That earned me a whack on my head.

"The royal family. The prince's parents." I blinked a couple of times and saw the worry in Annabeth's eyes.

"So?" I ask her. "What would happen? I mean Daniel, Trevor, and I have to obviously go into hiding, but I think that Santos had already thought about that. So what does it matter that they're coming?" I looked into Annabeth's eyes again, but they were distant. It turned into a haze.

"The might-" she stopped herself before she could say anymore.

"They might what?" Her eyes were widened with terror.

"Nothing," she persisted. I wanted to argue, but that would've gone no where.

"So, is that all that you wanted to talk about?" She shook her head.

"No. You still need practice."

"With what?"

"With everything. You might think that you're on top of your game here, but today was just to first lesson. They'll get more and more harder as you progress in your studies. Especially with Mrs. Donovan." I nodded, understanding what she meant.

"But I don't know what to do? Isn't this enough already? I mean, obviously I beat Doug. You could've seen the look on his face when I kicked his butt. He was humiliated. Does that mean that he was faking?" She didn't answer. I sighed. "So, what are you insisting."

"Let's just take it slow for now. You still need to improve in your studies if you want to become the prince-"

"But I don't! Can't you see? The reason that I don't want to listen to my studies is because I don't want to become the prince." She looked at me disagreeably.

"I don't believe that. I know you want to be prince. You just say that to yourself. You don't want to die, but you also don't want to sound selfish. Now, if you're preparing to listen, I'll see what I can do." She took my wrist and clenched it tight. It was my turn to be terrified. It was as if she could read my mind.

My hands were balled in fists, but eventually, I slowly calmed them. Annabeth loosened her grip as well. When she let go, there was a mark, but I noticed the bruise on her arm first.

I pointed to it.

"What's that?" She noticed and quickly held it. She seemed nervous about the subject.

"Nothing."

"That's what you said before. It obviously isn't something."

"It's nothing, Per-"

"Hey, you said nothing last time and I let it go. This time, I won't let it go." I looked into her eyes and she finally relaxed and held out her arm, showing me the purplish bruise that was the size of a ping pong ball.

"They heard me."

"What? Who heard you?"

"Santos and his servants. After you had left, they rushed into my room and had a serious talk to me. But I'm fine, so we don't have to get all jittery about it." She pushed down her sleeve so that it was covering the mark. I look up at her worried. I realized the seriousness in this conflict. Not only Daniel and Trevor, but if anyone finds out, Annabeth can be another victim to Santos's cruelty.

"Doesn't it hurt?" She shook her head.

"Not really. Just knowing that it's there is a little embarrassing, but I could really care less about the pain." I suddenly noticed Annabeth's expression. It was full of truth and confidence, but there was a seed of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Where did you come from?" I ask. I hadn't meant to ask her like that, but she took it as a regular answer.

"A small family. I use to live in the village of Aquatica, but my family was a little bit too crowded for me. My father and mother were happily married and had me, but then, she died when I was around seven. Then, my father, not able to forget my mother, locked me outside of his heart. Once, I heard with his friends that I reminded too much of my mother to him, so it hurt just to look at me. And the next thing you know, boom. He's got a new wife and two other kids." I hadn't expected her to tell me all this about her. I find Annabeth a little mysterious and a little different, but she's just like me.

I let her continue on. "They had treated me as an outsider. I looked different from the rest of them and I couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or not. Until they blamed me for everything that went wrong." There was a necklace that she was fiddling around with and I could see small beads linked together, but a silver ring dangling in the middle.

"So, I couldn't take it anymore and just ran off. There wasn't much to talk about with my family. I try to avoid the subject about them as much as possible. When I ran away, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to survive on my own. So Santos had found me one day and took me in. That's when I became a servant at this mansion." She gestured to all the things around her.

"Santos brought a roof over my head and had a food to eat. Water to drink. And I met Grover, who's the only person that I was able to talk to until now. I'm actually kinda grateful about it." She looked at me and I suddenly found the urge to hug her. She was mystically beautiful in the moonlight and her hair was shining. I found her just as intriguing.

"Anyway, sorry for ranting on and on about my life. Let's hear yours." It was so sudden, that I barely registered what she had said.

"W-what?" Just as everything was going fine, the thought about my past made me want to fly away. I didn't have wings, though.

"Your past. As long as I was able to teach you about these things to be prince, I could hear about your past. We made a deal." I recollected the time when I was so embarrassed that it just came out my mouth. Now, I wished that I hadn't had said it.

"Well, there's not much to tell. Just that I'm an orphan." She looked straight into my eyes again, examining me.

"You're lying." I jumped.

"What are you, the human lie detecting machine?" She scoffed and slapped me again on the arm.

"Seriously, Seaweedbrain. Tell me."

"Don't act like such a Wisegirl." She raised an eyebrow.

"Wisegirl? Is that all you can think of? Figures. A Seaweedbrain like you can't find something better." I could hear the teasing in her voice.

"Well, I'd rather be a Seaweedbrain." She smiled at me and she continued to search for an answer. "Alright." She looked eagerly at me.

I took a deep breath.

"When I was a younger, I hadn't been the best kid in the bunch." I could hear her chuckle. "Don't laugh. Do you know how hard it is to be the only one with ADHD? I constantly shifted around. I wasn't able to stay in the same place. That's why it was so hard for me to fit in. Considering that, I couldn't find a place in society. My father was a fisherman, my mother a worker for a horrible store in Aquatica. They were trying their hardest to provide for me and my family. But I ran away, afraid that I might have caused them pain. A while later, I heard that they had died in an accident."

Annabeth's eyes were glued onto me. She looked like she half believed my story, but half believed that it wasn't true. The side that thought it was true overruled her.

"Wow. That must've been tough." There was a mischievous glint in her eyes and I couldn't help but feel violated.

I sprang up from where I was sitting.

"Anyways, I should probably get back. If one of the boys noticed that I'm gone, I'll be for sure dead." I got up and Annabeth helped me with the window that was latched shut. I slipped through the opening and waved bye to Annabeth. She smiled and mouthed, 'tomorrow.'

I nodded and smiled back. When she blew out the candle next to her bed, I shuffled over so that I was right next to Santos's room. I climbed over his window, without making a sound, and continue to shuffle. I reached my bedroom with the other boys. When I peered in, they were sound asleep, just as I had left them.

I climbed into my room and shut the window. I tip toed over to my bed and curled under the covers.

Suddenly, I heard something creaking by the door. As if on instinct, I sat up and stared at Grover, who was walking in. He had a candle in his right hand and opened the door using his left. He smiled sheepishly at me when he saw that I was awake.

"Sorry for intruding and waking you up," he whispered, making sure that no one was hearing. I nodded. It wasn't his fault. I was just glad that I made it in time. Grover walked over to the window and set down the candle.

"Percy, I need to ask you a question." I nodded, waiting for what he was going to ask.

But what he said, I was at a lost for words.

* * *

**Oh my gods, sorry I haven't been updating. I hoped that this would have lifted up your spirits. Again, sorry. I was really into the Mark of Athena and I just couldn't put it down. Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 7

The next few days went on and off, me learning a different life. I got use to life at the mansion and I still visited Annabeth often. We would chat about the prince and sometimes, hope that we don't get caught.

Even though there was one thing that was bugging me. It was what Grover had asked me. Even though I answered it truthfully and made him swear that he would never tell, until the time was right, I still felt nervous about it. He's the first person that I've told my biggest secret to.

"Percy, would you mind to push in your chair next time you leave?" Mrs. Donovan spat at me. I shrugged it off, but did as I was told.

"Yes, ma'am." Over the past few days, Annabeth had taught me more about etiquette and, surprising enough, Grover knew that I was taking secret lessons with Annabeth. He found out after I answered his question.

"Make sure you boys bring your homework tomorrow and Mr. Jackson," I turned around as I was walking out of the classroom, "please don't put your feet on the desks." I nodded and smirked.

"Percy, I guess that you're getting better." Trevor looked over his shoulder to face me. Daniel did the same.

"Yeah. I've noticed that you answer a lot more questions than you did in the first few days. Are you okay?" They looked at me suspiciously and accusingly.

"Oh, really? That's nice." And I walk past them.

A few minutes later, I washed up and this time, decided not to go to dinner. I didn't feel like it and I was too tired to do anything. I still had things I need to figure out.

"Percy, you coming?" I plopped down on my bed.

"No, you guys go ahead." They accepted my answer and walked downstairs to the dining room.

I got up from my bed and quickly scanned the room. It was true that I was tired, but I didn't feel like doing nothing.

I scour the room and find that there was a piece of paper sticking out of Trevor's pillow. I looked at the door, making sure that they weren't there, and grabbed the piece of paper. Although I was dyslexic and suck at reading, I made out the few letters that were sprawled on the crinkled, ripped piece of paper.

'_nce of A, P'_

I didn't understand any of it and I couldn't tell what it meant. I looked over at Daniel's, but he didn't have one. I kept looking around the room, wondering if this note meant anything.

Suddenly, I was spooked by a knock on the door.

"Seaweedbrain!" Annabeth called, whispering at the same time. I sighed a breath of relief, quickly stuffed the piece of paper into my pocket, and jumped back onto my bed.

"Come in," I yelled. She slowly opened up the door and a head of blonde hair popped through.

"Hey, Seaweedbrain." I smile.

"What's up, Wisegirl?" She walked over and I noticed as she closed the door that she had a tray of food and a small candle on it. She brought it over to me and set it in front of me while she grabbed a chair and sat next to my bed.

"Santos said that I had to bring you dinner, since you didn't come today." The dinner in front of me smelled really good. It consisted of mashed potatoes with gravy, some turkey that was cut into strips, and green beans with steamed carrots and pineapple chunks. There was a simple glass of water by the side.

"Thanks, Annabeth." She smiled and I began to eat while she began talking.

"I overheard Santos talking about the visit that will occur in a little while. There might be a surprise visit, so you might not want to stick around for that. Also, the other royal family, the Kingdom of Alvy, will visit. There's going to be a lot of visiting, but when if I can find out anymore information, than I would tell you when you're able to hide."

I was grateful that Annabeth was helping for me. Now that Annabeth and Grover were helping, I'm glad that I had friends to help me, but I was afraid that they would be in danger if they were to help me.

She continued to talk to me while I ate and I finished right in the middle of one of her lectures for Mrs. Donovan's class.

"I heard that you got better," she teased me. I smirk and nodded. "And who's that to thank?" she asked.

"You," I told her. She smiled and I had one thing on my mind that I wanted to ask you.

"Annabeth, I need to ask you something."

"Okay, go ahead."

I took a deep breath. I know, dramatic much.

"What would you do if you were lying about your whole life." She looked at me worried, but I kept my cool and looked at my fiddling fingers. "What if you're lying about everything and you don't want anyone to know about it?"

I felt myself tense up. I didn't need to give everything away, but it felt like I was spilling my thoughts to her.

She shrugged.

"I'd probably tell someone I trust. It'll hurt more if you hold it in." I look up at her with hopeful eyes, but she didn't catch on.

"Okay."

Annabeth looked like she sort of got what was going on, but I was trying to stop myself.

"Why?"

I look up. "What?"

"Why? Why would you ask me something like that?" I shrugged.

"I...don't know." She looked at my worried, but let it go, grabbed my finished dinner, and got up.

"I'm going to go back down and give this to Santos." She was about to go when I grabbed her arm. The bruise that was there a few days ago had disappeared. I smiled at her.

"Thanks." She nodded.

"You're Welcome, Seaweedbrain." And she walked out.

A few minutes later, I found myself wrapped in my blanket like a cocoon, and buried my head in my pillow. Trevor and Daniel came back from downstairs.

"Hey, Percy." I made a noise to tell them I was listening.

"Santos wants to know why you weren't there for dinner today. They sent a maid up to your room," Trevor said.

I turned around so that I was facing him.

"I didn't feel like it." Trevor shifted on his left leg.

"That's the most stupidest reason ever. If you don't start proving yourself, Santos won't tolerate it."

"Trevor's correct, Percy. I mean, I know that we're all against each other, but if you don't give it your best, you're dead."

They kept staring at me and I glared at them.

"Leave me alone," I grumbled. They muttered something back, I'm guessing something bad, and got into their beds, blowing out their candles, and fell asleep.

I don't think that I should go to Annabeth's tonight, so I decided to have some rest. I've visited pretty much all the places in the mansion, including a secret passageway I found through the walls of the place.

I was about to fall asleep when there was a sharp pain on my back. I quickly turn around and found someone's face right in front of me and I was about to gasp when he clubbed me right over the head, and I fell unconscious.

Aching, I sat up and found myself in unfamiliar surrounding. I blinked a few times. Water. There was a drip of water. It echoed through wherever I was.

I looked up. Dark. Dark, obsidian walls. I wasn't tied up, but I was bleeding a little on my hand. Great. I remember a shadow clubbing me over the head. I wondered how he was able to get through the mansion walls. And why he had picked me.

There was no one else in the room, I could tell. It was just me. I had no idea if it was day or night, since there were no windows.

"Well, sleeping beauty awakes." I turn towards the voice, but I looked all around me. Gods, he was saying it so loud, it echoed through the walls and I couldn't tell which direction it came from.

"Who's there," I yelled, hoarsely. There was a hard strain on my throat and I tried to stand up, but tipped over a bit.

"Whoa, watch it. You better be careful if you don't want to fall face down on the ground." My vision was blurry, but I was able to make out a head of sandy blonde hair. It reminded me of Annabeth, but this person is a man. I'm positive of it.

"Who are you and why did you bring me here?"

"Ah, the two most asked questions. I'd just like to say, Percy Jackson," a sudden chill rode up my spine when he called out my name, "you should try to guess. Of course, you don't know me, but I definitely know you." I spin around and found the head of hair again, but this time, it was on the right. Then, the left.

I clutched my head. I must be hallucinating.

"Stop it!" I yell, but the echo made my head hurt more. "Ah!" I dropped down on my knees and the man seemed to understand the pain that I was in.

He finally came from the dark and had a candle with him. I looked up and his face was only two feet from mine. I could see his features with the candle.

This person was tall. He had short, sandy hair that was cropped and he looked around twenty. He had sky blue eyes and a handsome smile, but there was a long scar that ran down from his eye to the side of his face, earning him a rugged look.

"Who are you?" I ask.

He chuckled.

"Don't worry, Percy Jackson. I mean no harm." Yeah, if you mean clubbing me over the head no harm.

"What do you want?" I demanded.

"Hm, let me think. Oh, that's right." He bent down and I was closer to him than ever. He seemed as clear as daylight. "I want you to spy on Santos for me."

I immediately objected. "You're crazy. I'm not doing that."

He stared at me intently at in my eyes and I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

"Don't worry, Percy Jackson. There will be much to know. And you will spy on Santos for me." As I glared, I noticed that this man was wearing clothing that fit neither royalty, nor peasant. It was like he was right in the middle. He had an olive green shirt with a leather belt, white pants with dots of dirt, and soft, furry looking moccasins.

"How are you going to get me to spy for you?" He smiled, the scar lifting and giving him an evil edge.

"I'll tell your little secret to Santos. And for sure, you'd be dead."

I couldn't tell whether this person was a friend or foe. Yeah, sure that he was trying to threaten me, but I had a strong resentment to Santos as well.

I didn't want to, but I agreed, just wanting to hear why this person wanted to know.

"Fine." He smiled.

"Good. Now, I'm going to explain everything to you, but you cannot, under any circumstances, are aloud to tell anyone about this, you got that?" I couldn't tell if this man was holding a knife or not, but I nodded anyway, not wanting to find out.

"Deal."

"Okay. Let's start from the beginning. I'm Luke Castellan, a royal servant of the kingdom of Aquatica, though I'm not one of those 'helping people, serving food, cleaning things' kind of servant. No, I'm someone that goes around the kingdom, trying to find out what could be used against the kingdom. We want to stop the destruction of the most famous kingdom and the most powerful. Civil war is brewing and if you don't help me stop it, all of Aquatica will go down under."

Luke's words were powerful and intense. I almost agreed right away.

"Why do you want me to help you? Couldn't you have just used Trevor or Daniel?" Luke shrugged.

"Any one of you guys could do. You were just closest to the window." My mouth dropped open at how bad the reasoning was, but what Luke said before had balanced out his humor.

"Well, what do you want me to do? Listen in on Santos? I already have a friend doing that." Luke gave me a look, but I wasn't sure what it read. It had sadness, disappointment, and worry all in one.

"Well, make sure that your friend stays far away from Santos, but if she could, tell her to try not to get caught." And that's when I caught something.

"You said 'she' and 'her'. Do you know the friend that I'm talking about?" Luke backed away, unaware of what he had just said.

"No... I mean yes...wait, no...you know what? Maybe. I may know the friend that you're talking about, but just forget about it, okay? I have many people in Santos's mansion that work with me. But they can't get close enough to him. Someone has told me that you're Santos's favorite." I shook my head.

"No. I think it's Trevor. But whatever." I couldn't help but pity myself.

"Percy, you shouldn't think of yourself as worthless. Or else, I wouldn't have picked you."

"You said that you didn't care who you'd pick." He chuckled nervously.

"Well..." he cleared his throat. "Anyways, Percy, do you think that you'd be able to do this? If you get caught, there are many consequences, the most dangerous is your life. Are you sure that you'd be able to do this?"

I shrugged.

"Do I have a choice?" Luke shrugged as well and shook his head.

"Nope."

"Then let's get going."

* * *

**Yeah! AWESOME LUKE! Also, if you're reading my other story, You're Beautiful Too, you might have to wait for a while because I have writer's block. Anyways, feel free to PM me about the Mark of Athena if you want because I finished a few days ago and I love it.**


	7. Chapter 8

I found myself in my bed, but remembered the night before. It was terrible. I had to spy on Santos, or die trying.

Obviously, Trevor and Daniel were already out of bed and I was feeling a little more jumpy today. I quickly got up, washed up, put on my clothes, and ran down to meet the others in the dining hall.

"Good morning, Percy Jackson," Santos called out. I nodded.

"Good morning, Mr. Santos." He seemed to like the way I was acting.

"Well, how pleasant to see you here after all the times you spent up in your room, secluded from the rest of us." I nodded, unsure of how I was suppose to answer.

"Sorry, Master Santos," Trevor called out. Santos turned to him while I walked to my chair, sat down, and started to eat an apple.

"Yes, Trevor?"

"I'd just like to say that I saw something very suspicious last night." Immediately, my ears eavesdropped on everything they were saying, but I pretended to not care and continue eating.

"Really? What was suspicious?" Trevor leaned in closer, but practically everyone could hear.

"The latch on the window was broken. Before I went to sleep, I checked the curtains, but the latch was fine. When I woke up, I noticed that it looked like it was sliced in two." I silently cursed at Luke's careless way of coming in.

"That's odd," Santos said, concerned. "Thank you Trevor for bringing that up. I will ask one of my servants to do it for you. And, I have some exciting news for you boys."

I turned so that I was facing him and he had on a happy face, one that was too evil to find any kindness in.

"It's your fitting day!" he exclaimed. This time, I choked on my apple, probably more surprised and shocked than I was about Trevor's finding. "I know, Percy. Exciting, right?" I gave him a disgusted look. A fitting day? What was this man thinking about?

"A fitting day, sir?" Daniel asked, half finished with his dinner. Santos nodded.

"Correct. We will be going into town today, of course in disguise, and sneak you boys into a boutique that was especially meant for boys. You will get your measurements filled out and then, they will sew it into the most comfortable, most softest silk shirts and pants that you will ever try on." I finished my apple and stared at the others, wondering what they thought about going into the marketplace. What if someone were to recognize us?

But no one said anything else for the remainder of breakfast, except Santos, still explaining the whole situation to us.

After breakfast, we had the half the day to skip because of the fitting day. At least I had something good to come out of it.

We all stepped into the carriage, but I noticed that the black horse that I rode during lessons was the one leading it, so I asked if I was able to ride it there, leading the carriage.

Don looked reluctant at first, but gave in as he knew from experience that I was a trained rider.

"Fine. But no funny business, or I'll make sure that you have a nice, long chat with Santos," he threatened, but I nodded.

I got onto the horse and it seemed to like me. I slowly got it to go when the others were all in the carriage. Santos, Trevor, Daniel, and Don were the only ones coming. I was glad that Doug wasn't, but I'd still have to try my best at this.

"Whoa, there boy." I stopped the horse as it came across a magnificent clearing when we were around a half and hour into your trip. It was as big as the sea, stretching from the land in front of me to elsewhere. I couldn't see the other side, but I could definitely tell there was something there, something that I wanted to explore.

"What's the hold up?" Don asked, his head poking out of the window. I apologized to them and continued on with the horse.

Around ten minutes later, we reached the outskirts of what seemed to be the village. It had brilliant gates, the size of a twenty foot tall giant, with gold wiring and a intricate designs. It was beautiful and I peered inside. There were people bustling everywhere. Mothers were holding their children, fathers buying food and carrying all the goods. There were other people, trading or selling things and exchanging them.

Everyone got out of the carriage and Don took the carriage and the horse away. Daniel, Santos, Trevor, and I walked into the village, but we all had to wear what seemed like itchy hoods. I was wearing a brown sack on my head, letting it sit there and shade me from the sun. I couldn't care how I looked, getting stares from everyone, but at least it wasn't as bad as Trevor having to wear a girl's wig or Daniel, wearing a bonnet and bow tie.

We all continue to walk forward. I looked out in wonder. Now that I was actually inside the gates, it looked a whole lot busier and cooler. There were kids, younger and older, running around the buildings. Teenagers were talking to one another, just hanging out. Adults and elder people were buying groceries. I was wondering if this was what it was like everyday. Almost looks like the people were sorta bored with their daily routines.

"Boys, here," Santos called for as when we walked farther inwards. Before I walked into the boutique, I noticed the grand castle that was standing in the center of the kingdom. It was really far away, but because it was so big, I could see it all the way from here. It was a magnificent blue castle, with green ledges and silver ledges. There were seashells that were decorated throughout the castle walls. The brick walls were all sea green and blue. And for some reason, I could smell the sea breeze from here, although we were around a mile away from the huge lake I had seen.

"Coming," we all called. We found the place that Santos was talking about. It was small building, compared to all the rest. There was a sign that read, "Beauregard's Clothing." We were ushered in before I could see the rest, but the inside was a lot bigger than the outside.

The store reeked of new clothes, like the smell of laundry detergent, or the smell of new books. There was a ten foot tall shelf behind the glass counter with fabric in every column, ranging in every color I could think of.

Inside the long glass counter was thread, needles, and pins for clothes. There were small mannequins standing in the corner of the room.

When I took a few steps in, a small bell rung from on top of me and I looked up. When the door opened, it ringed.

"Welcome to Beauregard's Clothing! My name is Silena Beauregard. May I help you?" I was spooked by the voice and jumped as I saw a pretty teenage girl walk through the back of the store. She had pitch black hair that flowed down the side of her neck and down her back. She had eyes of pure sapphires, but the longer I stared at them, they seemed to change colors. She was wearing a blue gown that I see a lot of woman wear, but it looked a little more complicated.

Santos cleared his throat and said, "Appointment for Santos." Silena walked over to the counter and looked through her book, one that was filled with clients names. She traced her finger on the paper to look for his name and she looked up as she found it.

"Ah, Mr. Santos. Yup, you're right on time. You have a fitting for three boys, is that correct?" Santos nodded and the three of us stepped forward. Silena stared at us intently, looking at our style when I remembered I had that sack thing on my head. I quickly took it off and Daniel and Trevor did the same with their outfits, blushing at how oblivious they were of their costumes.

Silena smiled and continued to study us, as if deciding what we looked best in. It was almost like a light bulb had lit above her head as her eyes got wide and her smile wider.

"I've got the perfect thing for each of you boys. This is a formal occasion, is it not?" Silena asked Santos. He nodded.

"Yes, these boys will need something really nice to wear. Something almost...royal." Silena nodded and she pointed to Daniel.

"You boy, come with me first. We will measure you and give you the perfect thing to wear." Daniel followed Silena while two other woman I hadn't noticed walked up to us and led us to get measured.

Of course, we were all in different rooms to get measured and I wasn't exactly happy with how they measured us.

"OUCH!" I yell as a needle poked my leg. The woman that was poking me apologized and told me to stop moving. Even though I was only twelve, that does not mean that people have the right to measure me.

"Please stop moving, Master Jackson." I tried to stop fidgeting, but after another few seconds of poking and sewing and measuring, I got bored and started to shift, earning another few pokes.

When I was finally done, I could've sworn I looked like a bunch of bees stung me on my leg. It wasn't bleeding, but it was red and I rubbed it.

"If you haven't moved so much, maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt," Trevor whispered to me when we were done with the freaking measurements.

I scoffed.

"As if that was going to fix anything." Trevor heard me and stayed quiet. Santos walked into the boutique because he was gone the whole time we were getting measured. He walked up to us and asked about Daniel, who wasn't there.

"He's still in the dressing room," I told him. He nodded and we waited for Daniel to come out. When he did, Daniel looked like he had almost as much stings on the leg as me.

"Thank you all for coming today. Mr. Santos, I will have your orders ready in a few days so that you can pick them up." Santos nodded. "Goodbye."

We all said out goodbyes and I was tempted to ask Santos about what we needed the clothes for, but he would never give us a straight answer, so I decided not to talk.

"Are we going to go back?" Trevor asked.

"If you boys want, but I was thinking that maybe you'd like to spend some time here." I looked around at the marketplace and thought if there was anything that I was against. Nothing.

I shrugged.

"I'm fine with it." Santos eyed me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to run away." He didn't believe me. The other two agreed to go and I had to pair up with Daniel because Santos thought that I was going to run away.

"See you boys in the village square before the clock strikes three," Santos called out. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed.

"Bye!" Daniel waved. I let out a weak smile. When Trevor and Santos were out of view, I turned to face Daniel who was looking around.

"So, where should we go next?" I sighed.

"Look, I know that you don't want to be here anymore than I do, especially with me, alright? I know that already so you don't have to pretend to be my friend and all that. And, let me make this clear to you, I am not your Cinderella, so when the clock strikes three, I am not turning into a princess with a fairy god mother or a pumpkin as a carriage, although that does sound fun, or have little mouse friends I could talk to. So don't get any weird ideas or assumptions."

Daniel looked at me weird and I wished that I would've shut up before I blabbed on. I shook my head.

"You know what? Forget everything you just heard come out of my mouth and let's go." I turned around and walked the other way as Daniel caught up behind me.

"Percy, I need to say that, even though there were weird and awkward things you just said that I didn't understand, I'd like to say that you need to step it up. Do you know why we're here? Why Santos choice a group of boys instead of just one and train him?" I shrugged. I never thought about why, just thought that I needed to get out this mess before it gets even worse.

"No, not really."

"Well, it's for competition purposes. If we didn't have competition, then we won't want to strive for our best. We'd want to beat each other and do our best. If we didn't we'd be all lazy and not want to try anything. That's the magic." I had never thought of it that way and hearing Daniel talk about it made me feel like an uncertain, stupid, young kid. I was running away from all that, blaming it on myself when I should've been trying harder.

I shifted and didn't say anything. After a while, I started to walk with Daniel following behind me.

"Where do want to explore?" he asked me. Immediately, I lifted my head, like I was staring at the clouds. But I held out my finger and pointed at one specific place, a grim smile washing across my face.

"The Grand Castle."

* * *

**Hope you like this chapter. Although, there is some bad news for my other story, You're Beautiful Too**

**Please read if you are interested in You're Beautiful Too. If not, you can skip this.**

**I have come across some enormous writer's block and I'm thinking of suspending the story. It does not mean that I'm stopping it, I will get back to it, but it just means that I'm not able to write. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience and hope that you all still like my stories. Thank you. **


	8. Chapter 9

"Hush," I said to Daniel in a whisper. I crept forward until I reached the long, gold gates and studied them. There wasn't any barbs on the top nor were there any sharp objects of that matter. I got onto the ledge of the bottom fence and hoped that I was small enough to jump over. Daniel tugged on my shirt before I jumped.

"Percy, I don't think we should do this. We'll get into a lot of trouble." I disagreed.

"Don't worry. We're fine. No one will ever know." He didn't seem to like the idea, much less go along with it.

"Why do you keep talking like you are certain that we're gonna be okay? Almost like you've already been here..." Before he could ask me anything else or say anything stupid, I whipped my head around to the gates and jumped over as best as I could.

I landed inside, though there wasn't anyone there to appreciate it besides Daniel.

"You're turn," I call to him. Daniel tried the exact same thing that I was doing, but he stepped off after a minute of deciding.

"I can't do it, Percy. If you want to get in trouble, fine. But I'm not going to have to do anything with it." I shrugged.

"Suit yourself." And I ran forward into the castle.

There was a small entrance that was guarded with a bunch of the castle guards. They had swords, spears, and knives with them and I was guessing that I wasn't suppose to be here.

I looked around. There was a small opening near the kitchen of the castle. It was a window, small enough for a small child, like myself, to fit in. I tip toed over, hoping that the guards didn't catch me. Sure enough, they were too busy looking ahead than looking back. I smirked at their ever lasting stupidity. The king really needs better guards out here.

I headed to the window, and with my arm, pushed into the window. The fresh smell of turkey and bread filled the air, but I ignored it and pushed it more. To my surprise, there were a lot of people in there. However, everyone was running around and pushing each other, too caught up in their business to even spot me climb through the window and land on the ground.

I looked pretty clean, considering how much I've been poked a while before. I was about to walk when someone behind me called out to me.

"Hey, boy!" I immediately stiffened and turned around cautiously, seeing the head chef behind me with his big mustache up in my face. I lurched back to make sure it didn't touch me.

"Yes...sir?" I ask, hoping he'd believe that I was a member of the kitchen. He seem to take it.

"What are you doing here? You should be serving the food to the royal family now! It's lunch time!" He flailed his arms in the air and I ducked to make sure I wasn't hit.

"Y-yes sir." He sneered and walked away while another set of workers walked over and gave me a tray with some food, napkins, and utensils. They pushed me all the way to the exit of the kitchen and in a few seconds, I walked out the doors and into the castle itself.

Let me just say that I was not expecting this. I had imagined the castle to be as luxurious as Santos's mansion. But it was even more than that. A giant chandelier hung above the dining room, with the pictures of cupid and Eros and the gods in the dome shaped room. The dining room was twice as big as the one Santos had, and it was just one room. Who knows how big the actual castle is.

I stare in wonder at the statues that surround the room. They were flowers spread around the room, lilies and moonlaces. They seemed to glow in the soft light from outside and I couldn't stop but wonder if there was anyone in the world even more rich than the royal family. They had such luxuries that I didn't understand why only one family needed it. They should bring the whole orphanage.

Suddenly, there was a small bell and I recognized it to be the ring of the royal family. They wanted their food.

Santos had told us to keep our faces hidden, so no one would be able to recognize us. He wanted to make sure that his plan would be fool proof, to make sure that the prince is real and not just another actor.

I hurriedly looked around and found a small table in the corner with a white mask. I've seen a few servants where it before and so I grabbed one, put it on my face the best I could, and walked out to the actual dining room, where everyone was feasting.

When I walked in, I gasped. It was exactly like how I'd seen it and the royal family sat in the middle, waiting for their lunch. I carefully walked over and my legs stiffened at the sight of them. The king, obviously, was seated in the top, with the largest chair to signify the most power, and with the biggest crown on his head.

He had a black beard with green eyes so deep, it looked scary. He looked bored without any satisfaction in his face when I walked over and set down his food. I noticed the queen, who was talking to them, probably why the king wasn't looking so happy. She had a long braid down the side of her face and she had the same green eyes that the king had, only a little more happy and chatting.

The last person that was there was most likely the prince, the older one. He looked just like his parent's. His mouth was moving simultaneously with his mother's and I could definitely tell that the two were related. His hair was short and neatly trimmed, his arms muscular, and his face handsome. He looked a lot like a prince with the crown on his head and the outfit that he was wearing.

"And then, she didn't even say anything! She just ignored me!" he shouted. I wanted desperately to roll my eyes for whatever reason because I could tell that this wasn't the first time the prince was talking like this.

I handed them their food while they were talking. The prince first.

I carefully set down his food and his drink, though he paid little to no attention to me at all. Next was the queen. I had to be careful. I heard that the queen is very chatty, but can get a little aggressive when her meal isn't served right. So I carefully set it like the prince's along with the drink.

She took one look at the food, then, turned to me, as if she saw a microscopic mistake. My eyes widen, waiting for her to say something to me and send me to prison. But she just glared, then went back to talking alongside with her son.

I let out a breath of relief and walked over to the king. I was a little more relaxed with serving him because I had heard that he was a lot more nicer and treated people more fairly than others of royal descent. I set down his food and stood back up, taking a few steps back to observe him. However, he turned back a lot faster than I had anticipated.

"Well, the chef seems to be making his food a lot better than usual," he chuckled. "Doesn't he?" he asked me. I nodded, pretending that I was working here all this time.

"Yes, sir," I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking. He didn't seem to mind and kept talking to me casually.

"I guess that means the other two have more to talk to." He made me smile with his generosity and I sensed the warmth in his heart.

"Yes, sir." He chuckled.

"No need to call me sir."

"What should I call you, then?" He shrugged.

"Call me whatever." I smirked.

"Alright, whatever." The king laughed, earning looks from the other two.

"Is something wrong?" the queen asked, giving me another one of her glares. We both shook our head. The prince seemed just like his mother, overprotected of his father.

"Nothing, dear," the king answered back. The other two didn't like it, but they turned back to eat their food and talked. The king turned to me and looked at me with wise old eyes. "Don't worry about them. You know how they can be."

At that moment, I felt guilty knowing that I'm pretending to be someone that I wasn't. I was guilty that they the king is becoming nice friends with me, but at the same time, not know who I truly was or what my intent was suppose to be.

"Yes. I understand." He then started to eat his food while I stood in the corner and watched the family.

When everyone was finally done eating, I picked up all their food, but before I was able to walk to the kitchen, the king said one more thing to me.

"You know, you remind me a lot of my son." I stiffened at his comment. His son? The prince? I remind him of his son?

"Really?" I say, my voice raising.

He nodded sadly.

"Not the one that you served. My other son. The one that went missing. You have his eyes, but I cannot see through the mask that you are wearing. His hair was slightly darker than yours, but you guys have that tone in your voice." I smiled at his compliment and knowing that I remind him a lot of his son made me want to give the man a hug. But he was king. I couldn't do that.

"May I ask what your name is?" he asked me. I tensed up again. I didn't know what to do. Should I tell him? Should I not? I could be killed if Santos ever found out that I told the king what my name is. But I found myself saying my name out loud, no matter how hard I found it to be.

"My name is Percy, sir. Just Percy." The king smiled really big and I could tell that I made the right choice.

"That is a good name, Just Percy. My son's name was Perseus. His nickname was Percy." I nodded and he looked back. "Very nice to talk to you once in a while. I will see you during dinner."

And I remembered that I had to get back to the village before Daniel tells Santos where I've been.

Suddenly, the king put something in my hands. A piece of coral, sparkling blue and green. It seemed to radiate colors in the light.

"What is this?" I ask him. The king just smiled at me and said a few words.

"You'll know when the time comes." Then, he got up and walked away.

I was left dumbfounded, but I really needed to get back to Santos.

I ran back into the kitchen, dropped off everything that I had in my arms, kept the mask on, and climbed through the window in the kitchen. Still, no one noticed.

The guards were where they were before and I crept past them, jumping over the fence before they could see that I was trying to get away. I took off my mask at the other side of the fence and the piece of coral that the king had given me was resting nicely in the palm of my hand. I wanted to scream. I felt really bad for taking a treasure that the king thought was precious, even if he gave it to me. He doesn't know who I am or what I've done in the past. I steal, I cheat, I lie. But it was almost as if he looked past all that and found the person inside me that I've been trying to hide.

I jogged over to the center of the village and I had the mask neatly folded in my pockets. I finally spotted Daniel walking and he was amazed at how I wasn't harmed in any way.

"Percy, you're not hurt." He looked up and down, seeing not even a single scratch. I lied to him and said, "I didn't even go in." He scoffed.

"Too chicken?"

"Same goes for you." His cheeks redden.

"Well, I guess that I won't have to tell Santos that you snuck into the castle. I was just wandering the place. Did you know how many fliers I've seen of the missing prince? He actually looks a lot like us." I nodded.

"I've noticed." Then, we both heard distant yelling and turned around to find Santos and Trevor walking our way to the fountain.

"Percy, Daniel, it is time to go. I hope that you boys had a good time." I nodded.

"I had a really good time," I told him and he smiled.

"Good. Now, we will go home and there is still two weeks left in your training until you boys will turn into princes."

* * *

**I am so sorry for the unplanned hiatus. Also, hurricane sandy is taking a toll on my internet and the weather has been weird. Probably Poseidon or Percy caused it somehow. Anyways, I will update a lot faster from now on, seeing that my computer works. Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 10

Santos brought us back to the castle and we all sat and ate dinner for the remainder of the day. We had taken up longer than we had thought when we traveled back in our carriage.

"That bog was disgusting," Trevor complained when we were getting dressed for dinner. I sighed.

"Suck it up, man." He gave me a glare and I put on my shirt, buttoned it, and walked down with the other two for dinner.

It was still the same after a few weeks of training. There wasn't much to talk about anymore. Just that I was getting really annoyed with Santos and his constant murmuring about what the next day holds for us. But I know that one day, it's going to change and I know two of us will be killed.

"Welcome boys to another feast." I sorta lost my respect of Santos and I don't talk to him immediately as I did when I first came here. Though, Trevor and Daniel are still eager to impress.

"Thank you, Master Santos," they greeted.

"Hi," I called out, however, I was surprised that he didn't seem to mind.

"How was today?" he asked us when the maids and servants brought us our food. Trevor described his day to us while I raised an eyebrow at Annabeth. She nodded slowly so that others wouldn't notice. This meant that we were to meet today when I got back from dinner and the other two were nice and sleepy.

"Oh, really?" Santos asked. Then, he turned to Daniel. "What about you?" Daniel stuffed down the chicken in his mouth and spoke.

"I was wandering around the marketplace. There was actually a lot to see. I didn't think the marketplace would be that fun to watch and walk around. There were vendors everywhere and they seemed friendly. However, I also saw a bunch of missing posters, all old and ripped, of Prince Perseus. I wonder where he had gone..." Santos's face darkened and I noticed that his attention was somewhere else after he had mentioned it.

"That meant that Daniel wasn't with Percy. Where were you, Percy?" he asked. I stiffened as he called my name. Even though I lost respect for Santos, it didn't mean that I was any less afraid of him.

"I went here and there. Just around, like Daniel. Although we didn't bump into each other till the end." I felt dark eyes watching me, but I couldn't tell where they were coming from. It felt like Santos, but at the same time, it didn't. He wasn't looking at me, more at his plate. I turned around and scoured the room. No one was looking at me.

My shoulders slumped and I ignored the weird feeling, however I intended to talk to Annabeth about afterward.

I had also noticed that the mark that was on Annabeth's arm was gone. I wanted to know what had happened, since it seemed like she wasn't telling the truth.

The rest of the day was silent, except for some chattering among the others, but I didn't dare join in. I didn't want them to start talking about what happened the day.

"Off you boys go. Make sure you clean up well." We all trudged up the big stairs into our room. Trevor and Daniel were getting ready to go to sleep while I sat on my bed and thought for a bit.

King. The king had given me a stone. It was still in my pocket. I took it out and made sure the others couldn't see it, then gazed at it. It sparkled in the dim light alongside my bed. The stars and moon outside seem to radiate more light than usual and I was happy to see the slight shine.

My eyes had squinted a bit and I smiled while looking at the coral. I had reminded him of his son. His son. Not the snooty one. The one that went missing. The mischievous, trouble making, annoying son. And I was happy. That meant that I reminded the king more of his son than others. Including his son. And I was really, really happy.

I sigh happily and lay down on my bed. The others seem to notice.

"What are you so happy about?" they asked. I shook my head and my eyes closed, my hands tightening around the coral.

"No reason. Anyways, shouldn't you two be going to sleep now? It's late." They nodded and agreed with me for once.

But that haunting feeling came back once the two boys went to bed. That warm feeling that filled me was slowly diminishing and I wanted to make sure that no one was there. I was positive of it. Than what was this feeling?

It was just like the time Jake was killed. He had died right in front of my eyes and I hadn't done anything about it.

I twisted and turned, but the others didn't make a sound. I was almost positive that they were asleep. When I was certain they were, I got up from my bed slowly, like I've been doing.

I crept to the window and carefully unlatched it, gingerly pulling on the frame till there was a big enough slit so that I could fit through. I climbed up onto the ledge and pulled myself through. I turned back to close the hatch and climbed over Santos's window, without looking down. His window today was pitch black. Either he wasn't in it or he was asleep.

I continue down far enough so that I reached Annabeth's place. Her window was open and I could see the soft, dim light that lit the room. I unlatched the window from the outside and I felt her hands pull me in. When I landed on my feet, I looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Looks like you made it." I smirked.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." When I said that, it made her blush, even though it wasn't that bright. I could tell, though. She went back to her tan skin and gestured over to our usual place, by the window.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I reach into my pocket and took out the piece of coral that the king had given me.

"This." She stared at it in wonder.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's a piece of coral." She stared at me, waiting for more. I sighed. "It's from the king."

Right when I said that, her eyes widened and she jumped up.

"The king? You met the king? When? Did Santos take you?"

"Yes, I met the king. Today, after our fitting. And no, he didn't take me. In fact, he doesn't know that I even went." She looked at me like I was crazy, but I probably was.

"Are you crazy?"

"Um...no?"

"Percy, you could've gotten killed! How did the king give you this?" I had explained to her about our meeting and how I ended up in the situation that I was in.

"And that's how it practicality played out. Anything else to ask? Man, I thought you were the smart one." She punched me in the arm and I let out a cry.

"Shut it Seaweed Brain. Anyways, the king's son was Percy? That's a huge coincidence. Well, you guys do sorta look alike. But his hair is darker than yours." I instantly lit up.

"You knew him?" She whipped around, her eyes widen.

"W-what? No, no I don't know him." She sounded scared, but I knew she was lying.

"Liar. You did know him. I didn't say anything about his hair color. Only the king mentioned that. I would've thought that the prince had brown hair like me. But that's not right. How did you know?" She looked around for a way out. Only I wasn't going to let her.

"I...um...uh..." Her eyes were moving around rapidly and I could tell that she couldn't think of anything, although she was one of the smartest people I knew.

"Well?"

"I...fine. I've been in the marketplace once. Just once. And I've seen the posters of him and I've heard the way that people describe him. Okay? Happy?" She threw her hands up in the air to make it a little more dramatic. I shook my head.

"I don't get why you were making a big fuss out of it if it was that small." She shrugged.

"You don't know anything about me," she said coldly. I immediately sat up straighter and looked into her eyes when she turned back.

"You don't know anything about me either. So we're even." She smiled.

"So, Seaweed Brain, anything else you want to talk about?" I nodded.

"Why do people say they have it worse than you?" Her head slightly tilted to the left. "I mean, when you are in a really bad situation and people say that others have it worse than you. Why do people say that? It's actually quite stupid." Annabeth nodded, agreeing.

"I know. Sometimes I get irritated. They don't understand what you're dealing with. They just assume that there's always someone who gets it worse than you, though they won't know what you're actually putting yourself up against. It's like saying you're happy, but there's always someone who's going to be better than you. Someone who's always going to be happier." I nodded. I've always hated that phrase.

"I hate that phrase and I hope I never hear it again."

"Well, I won't say it. I agree with you. It is quite stupid." We chuckled with each other and I really liked Annabeth's company then.

"You know, Wise girl, I never thought of you to be the funny kind." She chuckled and pat me on the back.

"You have no idea, Seaweed Brain." Then, we kept talking about random things until she brought up another good point.

"Have you ever had a secret so big that you just want to hide away and hope that no one finds out?" I slowly shook my head. Even though I told her about my past, even though she knows more about me than anyone else, I hadn't told her anything just yet. And I don't plan on it.

"Yeah. I have," I said nonchalantly. My eyes were blank and my face was tilted sideways. Annabeth eyes were the same, but she was staring at me.

"You have? What is it?" I chuckled.

"If I had one, do you think I'd tell you?" Annabeth smiled once again and my heart skipped a beat. It felt natural to talk to her like this.

"Well, even though we have a big secret, no one has the right to force you to say it. It's your choice. I'm not going to say mine, but I'm not going to force you to say yours. It's just wrong."

"But sometimes, I want to say it to someone. I want someone to find out. But at the same time, I don't. At the same time, I want someone to learn it and help me about it. But there's no such thing. Not everyone can help you." I took her hand and squeezed it slightly.

"Well, one person already knows my secret," I told her. Her eyes sparkled again.

"Who knows?"

"Grover." She seemed surprised and held onto my hand hard.

"Really? About what?"

"My past. He figured it out one night when he was visiting my room. He's really smart, that kid." Annabeth nodded, understanding.

"I know. I was with him when we came here." I look at her questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed like she remembered a really bad memory. Her face became nonchalant again.

"You don't know all of my past. But when Santos brought me here that night, I'd met Grover for the first time. He had helped me with everything and I also once had a friend with me." A friend?

"A friend? Who was it? What happened?"

"Her name was Thalia. Before she made it, she died because there were hunters in the forest that were hunting down people in the forest, since it's against the laws the king established. One of the hunters had hit her with their arrow and she staggered off to the side and slowly died. She let me and another person go ahead. She sacrificed her life to save ours." There was a single tear that streamed down her face and it slowly dripped off of her chin. I let her continue because she knew I was going to ask her about her other friend.

"You're probably wondering who this other person was." She chuckled bitterly. "He was a boy. A few years older than me, tall, handsome, and a really good friend of mine. His name's Luke." Suddenly, I recollected the night that I was kidnapped form my room by a man named Luke. I can't be, can it? But it makes sense. If Annabeth is that other spy...

"Can you possibly be that other spy?" I asked her. I knew that it was a long shot. Either she was or I completely blew it and my cover was blown, even if I had one.

"How did you-" She shook her head. "Never mind. Luke must have told you. He does that sometimes. You know, he use to stay here at Santos's place, as a servant. But he thought his life meant something else. Even if it was too late for him, it's just right for someone else. He wants to help. Like Robin Hood." Her tear stained face smiled and I could feel her warmth as she thought about Luke. He must've been really close to her.

"Thalia...What was her last name?" Annabeth gulped at her name.

"Grace. Thalia Grace. And she had a younger brother, but no one has ever gotten in touch with her family. Not even her. And I don't think I want to when Thalia's not even here anymore." I pat Annabeth on the back reassuringly. I was just trying to help and I thought it'll be fine with just comforting her.

"It's alright. It'll all be alright." And she cried as I put my arms around her and let her sob till we slept.

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**Sorry for the really bad chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 11

I suddenly woke up with a start. I didn't have a bad dream or anything like that. I just woke up. However, right when I did, I stared in horror at Annabeth's face. I wasn't trying to be mean. It just shocked me that she was this close. But that wasn't what scared me. It was the fact that it was morning and I was in her room.

"Oh my gods!" I yell, soft enough so that anyone pass the door couldn't hear. Annabeth stirred and her eyes widened as she got up from the ground. Her hair was rustled and her cheek was stained with a few tears.

"W-what..." she began to say, but I shushed her.

"Don't say anything." I listened to see if anyone was outdoors. There were little to no footsteps.

"Percy what are you still doing here?" she asked. Then, she remembered last night and jumped up. "Oh my gods, Percy you have to get back before they find you gone! This is bad."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Just my luck.

Annabeth pointed towards her closet and looked at me urgently.

"Annabeth?" a woman's voice rang into the room. It must be another maid. "Annabeth are you in there?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in just a second," she called back. She looked at me once more and pushed me into her closet. I crashed into the wall when she shoved me in.

"Annabeth, are you okay? I heard a pound."

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm coming." She glanced at me once more and sent a silent message. 'Be quiet for die.' I didn't say anything and just nodded with my eyes wide in fear. Annabeth nodded understandingly. Then, she closed the closet door and most of my surrounding went black.

I could hear Annabeth's footsteps go up to the door and the creak the door made when it opened. I could hear their voices loud and clear.

"Why, hello madam. What brings you here?" Annabeth asked kindly. It wasn't like her, sounding this sweet and kind. I rolled my eyes at her fake flattery.

"I just wanted to check up on you. Make sure that the boy isn't here." My eyes shot open when she mentioned a boy. 'Gods,' I thought, 'Santos already knows!'

Annabeth chuckled nervously. "What boy?" The madam cleared her throat.

"That boy, Percy Jackson, I believe. They found him missing from his bed this morning. I just wanted to know if he's in here." I could mentally see Annabeth shaking her head.

"Nope, he was never in there. I would never bring a uptight boy like him in here." Uptight? Uptight! She thinks I'm uptight? Well, I'll show her uptight!

I looked around her closet, trying to find her something I could use against her while she was talking to the madam. They began to talk about her duties for that day and I lost interest in listening and found interest in snooping around her closet. It was actually pretty big. I could see most of the stuff through cracks in her door.

Her clothes were neatly hung up with hangers and there were blueprints stacked on top of one another. Typical Annabeth. There was a dagger lying around and I wondered where she got it from. It was bronze, celestial bronze, like the ones kings, princes, and knights used. Maybe this could be useful.

Without any hesitation, I stuffed it into my shirt and kept snooping.

There was a book laying on the ground and I slowly picked up without making a sound. The madam was going on and on about her day and I was actually glad that she was talking. The book I found had a blue cover and there were gold lettering. I wasn't able to recognize the letters, but there was an 'A', a 'C', and an 'E'. That was all I could distinguish.

I was about to throw the book back onto the ground when something about it caught my attention. There was a slip of paper in between two of the pages. My eyes squinted. There wasn't enough light for me to see the whole thing. I needed to open the page.

I slowly flip to the page. I couldn't see it, but I could tell that it was a drawing of some sort. It's like the ones the artists drew in the royal castle. It was peculiar. There was something odd about it once I touched the picture. Something disturbing. A chill was sent down my spine, descending down the back. My mind froze for a few seconds.

Suddenly, Annabeth opened up the closet door and her eyes were furious as it landed on the piece of paper that was in my hand. She snatched it away from me in an instant, but I was able to catch a glance. My eyes widen in shock. It makes sense now.

"What are you doing, Jackson!" She yelled. It wasn't loud, just in case there were people outside, but she pushed me against the wall outside of the closet and grabbed my shirt. "Do you really think you can sneak around and look at all the things you want to? This is my personal stuff, okay!"

It was the first time she called me Jackson and I could feel the anger rise up in my throat.

"Well, if you haven't taken so long talking to that woman, I wouldn't have to sneak around! It was so boring!"

"That doesn't give you the right to look around!"

"Well we made a deal! You would tell me about your past as long as I tell you about mine!"

"And have you kept your promise?" she spat. The anger suddenly subsided. She was right. I hadn't been keeping it. I was trying to avoid it. I didn't say anything. "I knew it."

"If you haven't been crying last night, we could've prevented this whole thing!"

"Oh, so you think it's my fault?"

"Yeah! You kept crying about Luke, and Thalia, and Grover-"

"Shut up."

"-about your idiotic adventures together-"

"Shut up, Jackson."

"-and your little stupid crush on Luke and how Thalia ended up dying-"

"PERCY, SHUT UP!"

Immediately, I could hear murmuring outside. There was a knock on the door once again, but Annabeth didn't answer it. Instead, she looked at me, tears stinging in her eyes. Then, she let go and looked on the ground as the droplets streamed down her face.

"Get out," she said quietly. I instantly regretted it.

"Annabeth, I-"

"Percy, get out!" she yelled. I jumped at her sudden outburst. But then, I lowered my head and walked past her. I didn't hesitate about leaving. I could still see the picture that was in her hands. The one I had peered at before.

I walked up to the window, unlatched it like I usually did, and climbed out. Then, I left.

I got back to my room in a few seconds and thank the gods that the two other boys weren't there. My mind isn't on the whole situation anymore, so I wasn't in the mood to make an excuse.

I carefully got in and found myself a little dirty and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, I could hear Daniel's voice outside.

"Percy? Is that you?" I opened the door and the two of them looked relieved.

"Percy, where were you? We were trying to look for you!" Were they missing me? "If Santos finds out that you ran away, than all three of us would be killed!" Never mind.

"Actually, I was in here all this time. Maybe you miscounted?" Trevor sneered.

"I didn't miscount. You don't need to miscount to notice that you were gone. Now, where were you?" I shrugged.

"Did you check the bathroom?" I asked. Instantly, the two boy's faces paled.

"I-I didn't think about that," Daniel admitted. I chuckled halfheartedly.

"Now, if you boys excuse me, I am going down to breakfast." Before I walked away, they called out.

"Percy!" I turned, agitated.

"What?"

"D-don't mention anything of this to Santos, alright?" I sigh.

"Maybe I should. I think that I could get a reward to see you guys suffer..."

"Please, Percy!" Daniel begged. I laughed.

"He's playing with us!" Trevor yelled.

"Don't worry, you guys. I won't." And I walked down the stairs into the dining room.

Down at the dining room, Santos greeted me with a "Morning, Percy." I nodded and sat down in my chair. "How have you been?" I shrugged.

"Okay." I was really thinking about this morning and the disaster I had with Annabeth. The heated argument that rose when I found that picture. What was so wrong with it, though? It isn't like it's going to change her. It's not going to make her into a whole new person.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it could happen. When I saw that picture, it was almost parallel to me. It might not make sense, but I understand how it feels to not want to let anyone know about something. Something big. And it haunts me every day.

There was a small voice in my head that appeared all of a sudden.

_'You can't change your past. You can't run from it. It'll always catch up to you.'_

I was afraid it was.

After eating, I wanted to skip lessons today.

"Straighten up, boy," Doug cried out. Actually, I wasn't sure if it was Doug or Don. I wasn't sure of anything at this point.

"Yeah, whatever," I muttered. He sent Trevor and I to the arena and practice battling.

Trevor never was the battling type, so I beat him without breaking a sweat. But when it came down to lectures...let's just say that I'm not the listening type.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah," was all I heard come out of the teacher's mouth. I seriously wasn't paying attention and I guessed that she lost the respect since she didn't care if I wasn't listening.

I stared out the window and thought about my parents for the first time.

They're dead. They're dead. And I can't do anything about it.

It was like what the voices said.

_'You can't change your past. You can't run from it. It'll always catch up to you.'_

I can't change what already happened.

I sighed at how sentimental I became. I'm training to become the prince and I'm just throwing everything away like it doesn't matter. I was so happy when the king told me that I was just like his son. I couldn't stop smiling. But now, I'm not working at all. I'm not even trying.

When we were out in the field, the thoughts hadn't left my head when I was on the horse. I rode him into the sunset until I heard voices calling out my name to return. The wind blew through my hair and I thought about what was beyond the sunset. What was at the other side of the rainbow. What was there waiting for me at the other end of the ocean. But no matter how far I went, rode, or swam, I wouldn't end up in the same place and the past would catch up to me. It was a terrifying thought.

'What am I doing?' I asked myself. 'Pretending to be a prince,' a voice said. Pretending. I like that word. Pretending. I can pretend to be anything I want. Whatever it takes, I can pretend and no one can stop me.

But this horrified me even more. I'm not Percy Jackson anymore, the boy who had the sarcastic attitude, the boy with no friends, the boy who wanted freedom ever since he could remember. Now, Percy Jackson has become a boy so cold, no one could touch his soul. He shuts everyone and everything out and doesn't let them come in. He's so afraid to get in touch with himself that he has even gotten one of his only friends angry.

I've become so different. When I look back, I want to escape from it. I really do. Although, there isn't any other choice.

As the day ended, we all walked in for dinner and had the usual conversation. But Santos brought up something completely different.

"Tomorrow, the Princess of Alvy is going to visit." I almost choked on my drink and the other boys mouth gaped. "She will come when the sun is early, so I expect you boys to be up and early. But there is one thing. She must not know that you boys are pretending to be prince. We will provide you with clothes to blend in with your servants. You must not be noticed. You must not be picked out by your highness or you're dead."

Santos said it with a deadly tone and I was surprise that I wasn't scared.

And then, the empty feeling devoured me once again.

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**Sorry for short chapter. Enjoy!**


	11. Chapter 12

Like usual, we had all went to sleep. We all walked into our room, the small dim light from the candle flickering on and off. The window was shut tight and I was glad that I wasn't going to go out today. Maybe I need a break from all this stuff.

"Can you guys believe that the Princess of Alvy is coming tomorrow? I heard that she's very beautiful," Daniel said in a daze. Trevor snickered.

"Of course she is beautiful. And that's why when I become prince, I'm going to get married to her." I rolled my eyes this time.

"You know, if you're pretending to be the prince, then there's nothing real between you guys?" I walked over to my bed, fully clothed and pulled the blanket cover over me. None of the other boys even seemed concerned. They kept talking about the beautiful princess. And we don't even know her name.

"We're not actually meeting the princess, right?" I asked them, still laying in bed. I turned towards so the others couldn't see me and looked up to see the once beautiful stars turn grotesque in the sky. They made weird shapes and I just didn't stop thinking about how broken they looked.

"What do you mean? Santos said that we were." I sighed.

"It's a metaphor. We are going to meet the princess. But at the same time, we're not. We have to dress up as servants, remember? She's not going to recognize us anyways, so we might as well just say that we've never met her."

Trevor blew out of his nose. "What's got you into a big fuss?" I felt the anger rise up in my throat, but let it go. However, they actually aren't going to meet her. Literally.

"Nothing. Just go to sleep." And they listened to me.

It was roughly and hour of sleep until I woke up to a slight knock on the window. My eyes slowly blinked open to the darkness, but they adjusted and I noticed that the window had moved ever so slightly, as well as make a noise. I got up from bed to check and made sure that Daniel and Trevor weren't behind me, listening. They weren't.

I got up and walked to the window and opened it a little. Just then, a stone flew right next to my face and landed on the ground. I turned around suddenly, my heart skipping beats to make sure the others were still asleep. I saw Trevor churn and Daniel snore, but nothing else. My shoulders lowered in relief and I stuck my head out the window to observe who it was.

Luke.

'What are you doing here?' I mouthed. He understood and whispered as loud as he could.

"I need to talk to you. About some information." I groaned.

"Can't we do this another day? I really don't feel good today." He crossed his arm and scowled. The scar on his face didn't make him look less intimidating.

"Well, sorry if my information on your parents is too important for you. I should just leave now. I don't get why I even bother if-"

"Wait!" I call out. He turned halfway before he was going to walk off and leave me in oblivion. "What do you know about my parents?" I ask nervously. He smiled.

"A lot,actually. But if don't want to know..." He looked the other way. I thought for a moment, arguing with myself.

'Maybe this is good. I could find out what he knows,' part of me said. The others stated, 'But what if it's a trap? Maybe Luke's working for Santos.' And the other argued, 'But he works with Annabeth. He must be good. Annabeth can trust him.' The other part of me said, 'Hey, Percy. Remember what happened with Annabeth today? Yeah, that's not a good thing. Just don't go.'

But the curiosity and information of my parents got the best of me and I decided to follow Luke.

"What do you know about my parents?" I asked him as we were trailing in the woods. Luke had lead me into the forest on the other side of the mansion and it was completely dark except for the dim hue of the moonlight and stars. He shushed me and urged me to keep going.

"You'll see." But I didn't. I kept walking, stepping into wet mud and my foot sinking into the dirty muck. There were rustles behind me and in front, all different directions, but I ignored them. The walk was long and uncomfortable and I didn't learn anything from it just yet.

"Here we are," Luke said finally. He stopped in front of a small hut in the middle of the woods. It took my breath away. The hut was decorated with small lights that seemed to look like fireflies, all grouped together so that they were making a large light on the side. There were vines, thin and thick, running up and down the sides of the hut. There was at least two floors, maybe the second one an attic. It was nothing fancy, since the wood was chipping and broken. Plotted plants were standing in front of the hut, sitting with chipped bowls. There were two visible windows that I could see. A small flame was inside. I couldn't tell if there was someone in there.

I could go on forever on the hut. It was so simple that I really liked it. I felt normal here and looking at it made my heart warm up from the bad day.

"What is it?" I asked Luke, who was standing next to me. He lowered his hood that he had on and cleared his throat.

"It's something important," he said. I nodded, knowing that I didn't want to push him too far.

"Can we go inside?" I entreated him. Unfortunately, he shook his head.

"I can't let you. Sorry." His face darkened and he was telling me something I didn't know.

My face soured. "Are you not telling me something?" Then, I remembered the reason I had followed him in the first place. He took a quick glance at me. My eyes were shot open and my mouth gaped in horror. He found out, but that's not the only thing.

"Is...is it-" Luke nodded sadly. His face was the darkest I've ever seen and I turned to face him. He closed his eyes, pained by my sudden expression.

"I found it a while ago. Not too long. But I could tell it's been in good shape." He chuckled bitterly. "Told you."

"But...but this can't be-" I fell down onto the ground, not caring how wet and dirty my clothes were getting. Luckily, I was wearing my outfit from today and not my pajamas.

My hands found there way up to my hair and I ran my fingers through them, gripping at some ends hopelessly. Luke hunched down so that he supported me from falling down all the way.

"Why did you bring me here?" I ask him, this time the bitterness in my voice. I was angry. I was sad, pained, anxious. Why did he bring me here?

He looked back up at the hut. "I thought that maybe you'd like to know about it. Of course, you recognize it, so I doubt that you'd want to know the rest. Let's go somewhere else." Luke picked me up and brought me over to another clearing, far, far away from the small hut. I was silent the whole way and even fell down once in the dirt.

"Watch out, Percy." He brought me over to a clearing near a river and there seemed to be a camp sight in the middle. Three logs were around a burnt fire. Luke's been here. "Sit down." He offered me a seat and I sat down. He gave me a cup of something, but I just held it in my hands. It was warm. He then sat next to me and patted me on the back. "I know it's tough. Especially these two years. But you can't run away forever. I heard from Annabeth this morning." My head whipped around and faced him in shock. He nodded and my expression slowly softened and looked back at the burnt wood.

"She hates me, doesn't she?" I ask. Luke sighed again.

"Well, I wouldn't say hate, but she's extremely mad at you Percy. You found out something about her that she didn't want anyone to know."

"But it was an accident! I didn't think that I'd find a photo like that." My voice softened. "She doesn't trust me enough after the deal I made with her." Luke ruffled my hair like a really annoying sister.

"Don't worry kid. She's not that mad. Just let her cool down a little and she'll be back to normal." His expression suddenly turned nonchalant and a faint smile came across his face. I look up to face him. In this darkness, I couldn't see the scar that was marked on his face. "She told me about your promise. I don't blame you. She did break it. But you and Annabeth aren't that different."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You and Annabeth. You guys are kinda like opposites. Opposites attract." I would've felt grossed out by the sudden comment, but I was too tired and didn't care. "You found out something about Annabeth that she didn't want you to know. And now I've found out something about you that you didn't want someone to know." I shrugged.

"Grover knows. He found out a while ago." Luke seemed genuinely surprised.

"Really? Grover. He's one of the bravest kids I've ever met. Tell him that I said hi if you get the chance." I nodded and wondered what it would have been like to join adventures with Annabeth, Luke, Grover, and Thalia. I feel like the fifth wheel.

"Must've been nice to know that at that young of an age. Well, I'm not sure about anything anymore. It's like the world is slipping right through my grip." I looked back at the direction of the hut and stared at it with my green eyes, only they weren't green. They were dark. Really, really dark.

Luke had an attempt to change the subject. "So, what did you learn?" I didn't want to change it, but I had didn't want to argue at the same time. So I went along.

"The Princess of Alvy is coming tomorrow." Luke's face was speechless and I already knew why.

"Do you think they did it on purpose? To hurt her or something?" I shrugged at his question.

"I'm not sure anymore. I was thinking about it today and thought maybe they had to. Maybe some big problem would rise if they find out." He nodded and I waited for his next sentence.

"What are you going to do? She can't possibly see you. It'll ruin everything Santos has been plotting."

"Relax. He said that we were going to blend in with the outfits he's going to give us. Plus, some of the servants wear masks, so we might wear one." He looked a little more reassured, but it didn't look like he was one hundred percent sure. But neither was I.

"I hope you're right." Luke got up and he told me stand up. I asked why. "We're going back to Santos's mansion."

We walked through the woods and I trudged all the way back to Santos's mansion. I couldn't possibly use the stairs, so I climbed up. At least I wasn't afraid of heights.

When I reached my window, I waved at Luke to tell him that I was alright. He waved back and started to go. After a while, I watched his shadow disappear behind the mansion gates and he was completely gone.

I didn't look back to see the other two. They were annoying me with knowing if they were asleep or not.

I got out of the window and slowly shuffled across the ledge, avoiding Santos's window. I reached Annabeth's window and peered into the room. It was dark. I squinted. It didn't look like Annabeth was in here.

To reassure myself, I pounded lightly on the door. I saw her hand come out of the shadow, extend towards the window, and unlatch it. Then, it jerked back unnaturally fast.

I climbed in through the window and jumped onto the floor, dusting myself off. The dirt and mud was still clinging onto my clothes, but I didn't care. I needed to apologize to Annabeth.

"Hey, Annabeth. Look, I want to say that I'm sor-" But I didn't finish my sentence because what I saw next came out of one of my nightmares.

I saw Annabeth standing in front of me. But one of Daniel's hand wrapped around her waist, while the other tightened on her neck. He had a sharp knife in his hand and pressed it against Annabeth's neck until she grimaced

Trevor stood next to them, even farther into the shadow, his face evil and expressionless, his lips curling in a sick smile.

"Welcome back, Percy Jackson. Or should I say, Prince Perseus."

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**Oh, no. His secret is out.**


	12. Chapter 13

**This chapter is going to be a little long. It's also a flashback...with another flashback. It's just telling the story of Percy's past, which I heard that a few of you were wondering about. I got the idea of this chapter from the False Prince, so not all the ideas were totally original. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Two years ago, I jumped around the castle's grounds, trying to annoy Triton the best I could. Being sassy was what I was famous for. He tried to push me off of him once I sat on his lap, but I fell onto the ground and let out a horrendous cry. I started to crack up at him.

"Percy, shut up!" he cried. I doubled over, laughing until I had tears in my eyes.

"Well, too bad, Triton." He began to chase me around the castle grounds. I could tell that he was really ticked off, but I could care less. That's the best part about having an older brother.

He gave up a few moments later, out of breath, and stormed into the castle. I kept running around. I felt free. Really free and I wanted to try flying. I want to see how far I would be able to go.

I began to laugh again and felt the wind through my hair. It felt really nice and I couldn't stop laughing and laughing. That's all I could do. Laugh.

I faced the forest that was on the back of the castle, whistling a soft melody through the air. I had always wondered what was in there and when I reached it, I stopped laughing and tried to peer in. Everything was foggy and misty, so I dared not to venture farther.

I walked back to the front of the castle to see my trainer there.

"Chiron!" I called out. A middle aged man with brown hair and a scraggly beard turned around to face me. He had arrows across his back and a quiver in his hands. When he saw me, he smiled.

"Good morning, Prince Perseus," he greeted, bending down on one knee and bowed. I pat his back like any other ten year old would do.

"You don't need to call me that. Just call me Percy. I like it better." Chiron was known as one of the best hero trainers in Aquatica. He had taught Triton at becoming a good swordsman, so my dad had thought that if he trained me, I could settle down and be more mature and serious. Boy was he wrong.

Chiron got back up on his two feet and patted my head.

I asked him, "What are we going to do today?" He walked over to the side of the castle and picked up a celestial bronze sword that was laying on the castle wall. He handed it over to me and I gripped it lightly. It felt good in my hands.

"We are going to practice your defense today. You already have a good offense, but not so good blocking. We will begin with the basics." He went on about the types of blocks we were going to use for the sword. I would always get bored during classes, but his words had always kept me interested. I never missed one word he said.

"Let's begin," he said. Chiron held up his sword and wielded it in front of him. I stood in a ready-stance and smiled. "Ready when you are, Percy."

"Okay," I let out, confidently. We charged at each other and my sword had gone straight to his side. I would have been faster, but Chiron's sword side blocked it and sent me stepping back a little. I regained my composure and charged at him again. This time, I stuck down as I jumped in the air, but he was still too quick. His sword had gone to the blunt side and blocked my sword from smashing down on his head.

When I reached the floor, he was the one to charge. His sword went to my arm, but I lifted it so that it went straight through the air. Then, I spun around and gave him a big round house kick to the stomach. He stumbled back, surprised at my cleverness, but regained his spot almost immediately. One kick to the stomach wasn't going to do anything.

Chiron held his sword in a sort of awkward way and urged me to charge, but I kept my cool. I was sweating by now and I could feel the wind from the forest come my way, giving me a breath of fresh and cool air. I let out some big breaths.

"Are you tired yet?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"Not in the slightest." Suddenly, I took a few steps forward and charged at him the fastest I could. Speed was what I needed. Enough to make Chiron to make a mistake and give me a victory.

But he saw it all coming. He sidestepped to the right and I was too close to turn, falling into the ground, the sword stuck in the dirt a few meters away, near the throne room window. I tried to run over and grab it, but Chiron used the blunt side of his sword again and slammed it on my stomach, causing me to smash against the castle frame.

I started to cough and choke from the immense power that his sword had caused to my body. I stumbled over and crouched down onto the ground, trying to catch my breath. There was a little bit of blood coming out my mouth. Chiron ran over to see if I was okay.

"Percy, my boy, are you okay?" I stood up, but winced from the pain. However, I ended up standing up straight.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It just means I have to work harder." I chuckle and relief washed over Chiron's face. "I'm just going to go get my sword."

I walked over to the castle as Chiron walked back to the arena to get ready for the next training lesson. My legs were wobbly and I was stumbling over the stones on the ground. That was a really hard blow.

I managed to trip over a few things and finally make it to the castle wall, near the window that lead to the throne. But that's when I noticed my dad and his wife talking at the backyard garden. I wasn't going to try eavesdropping, but I couldn't help it.

I hid behind the big stone pillar of the sea castle and tried to hear them talk.

"-knows that it's good for him. Just ask." It was my father's wife, Queen Amphitrite. Who were talking about? Him? Are they talking about Triton? Or me?

"But he's my son. It's best if he just stays here. Nothing's going to go bad. Even though Triton's going to take the throne, Percy is still going to be of royal blood and that's going to make him as rightful as a king." They were talking about me. I shifted closer to them and leaned in. They seemed to be arguing about me. My eyes narrowed. What could they possibly be talking about?

"Yes, I know dear, he is your beloved son. But since he's only a half-blood, we can't let him stay here. It's a disgrace to the kingdom. They need full-blooded royal descents." My father's face grew red.

"You do not call him a half-blood. Just because he only has half royal blood and half mortal blood does not make him any less my son. I will not send him off."

I froze. Send me off? They were going to send me off?

My breath quickened and my heart was beating every half second. My sea green eyes had expanded and I gulped. Please don't send me off.

"It's the best for him! We might reach civil war one day and if he's here, than the kingdom will have a hard time defending themselves. I know that you love him, but it's best to let him go. And it's for his sake. It's nothing bad, just send him off for a little while, maybe a few years, then send him back. I'm sure that it'll make him more mature and ready for prince-like duties." I saw my dad's face soften. He was going to give in.

I wanted to stop them from sending me off. What's wrong with me? Is it because I'm not completely of royal descent? Is it because of the affair my father had with my mom had produced a mistake? Was I a mistake?

"That's why they're sending you off," called out a chilly voice from behind me. I turned around to face Triton, his eyes glaring at me and a small smile curl on his lips. He seemed to read my expression. "But don't worry. I'm pretty sure that you're going to come back. One day."

I shook my head.

"Father would never do something like that. He wouldn't send me off. He wouldn't." Triton chuckled bitterly.

"You don't know yet? He's told everyone. Even Chiron. Everyone besides you." And I didn't know about it? "They're thinking of sending you to Sparta so you can go through intense training."

"But I don't want to go. They can't force me."

"Oh, but they can." With that, Triton left me standing there, watching my father and his wife deciding my future.

Two weeks later

I pushed my bag onto the ground and crossed my arms. The royal guard puffed and my father came running to the docks to bid me farewell. Like Triton had said, they forced me to go and I wasn't able to do anything about it.

"This is goodbye, son. I hope that you will return in a few years time." He pat my back and I scowled.

"Some dad," I muttered under my breath, but I'm positive he heard it. His face darkened and turned sad. His eyes seemed to lose the spark that he had before. He seemed to age faster than I thought. Running the kingdom was putting stress on him, and an immense amount of it.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I'd really want you to stay. But I can't. It's the best for you. I swear on the River Styx. It's for your own good." I snickered.

"Or the kingdom's. You didn't even let me have a say in this decision! I'm not a kid anymore! I can handle myself? Why are you treating me like this?" Then, Amphitrite walked over and stopped us in our conversation.

"What is going on here? Percy, your ship leaves in a few minutes. I hope that you have a wonderful time." I resisted the urge to prove her wrong. I was not going to have a wonderful time. It's going to be the worst.

"Yes. You are right, my dear." I was sick and tired of my father always listening to his wife. She should be king instead if she's going to make every single decision in my life. My father turned back to look at me. "You must be going now. Good luck, my son."

I didn't even say anything else before the two walked towards the castle. I watched as they went back, not turning back once. Not once to see me go off. Too late, I thought, to know it's the last time they'll see me.

"Prince Percy, your boat is ready," one of the crew members said to me. I nodded and picked up my bag that I slammed down onto the ground. I looked back once more at the castle itself. It's my home. Was my home.

My eyes looked down on the ground sadly and I walked up the steps to the ship. My compartment was the last one down the hall. I opened the door and threw my bag into the chair that was seated there. A small window was on the wall and I looked out, watching the castle become smaller and smaller, until it turned into nothing and disappeared.

It's been a few hours that we've been sailing and I looked out again to find nothing but sea. The endless sea. I wondered if I'll ever be able to get out of here. I decided to waste time and fall asleep.

I plopped down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. In no time, my eyes drooped and I fell into a deep slumber.

I dreamed something vague. Something like a warm memory. There was cooing.

"Hey there, Perseus. It's me, your mother. Welcome to this world." In front of me was a woman holding a baby as she cooed into it's ear. The baby then chuckled and cooed back, earning a small laugh from the woman.

It took me a second to realize that it was my mother. And the baby was me. I was in a flashback.

We were in some sort of cottage, small, but big at the same time. It looked like the perfect place to raise someone. I watched as my mother unfolded the blanket that was resting on my body. I was fully clothed and reaching up to grab her hair and stuffing it into my mouth.

I tried to call out at the memory, but my voice didn't work. They couldn't see me. I didn't exist. At least, not my present form. For a few more minutes, I watched my mother pamper me and feed me. The warm feeling in my heart came back I was happy to have a mother like this. But I wonder how I got from this to becoming a prince.

She suddenly began to talk to me, as if reciting a story.

"Perseus, want to know something?" she whispered into the baby's ear. The baby, or me, giggled and make noises babies make. "Do you know that your dad is a powerful man?" That, I could understand. I seemed to freeze as my mother talked. "Although he's a powerful man, he's a very kind and gentle person. When I first met him, I didn't think I'd like him that much. But I ended up falling in love with your father. He is a wonderful man." I thought back to reality, just in my head, and my father who was taking orders from his wife. Why couldn't he leave? But of course, that wasn't how things worked.

My mother began to sing a soft lullaby to me.

_Sleep, baby, sleep,_

_Your daddy's away,_

_Sleep, baby, sleep,_

_And mommy will pray,_

_Pray for your daddy_

_Who sails on the sea,_

_Pray while I'm rocking_

_His babe on my knee;_

_May breezes blow gently_

_Where'er he may be,_

_And blow him home safely_

_To you and to me;_

_Safely, safely,_

_To you and to me,_

_To you and to me._

I watched with watering eyes. I'm only ten and I could understand this perfectly. I'm only ten. My mother's voice began to crack as she sang the second verse. I was still smiling playfully and grabbing her hair.

_Sleep, baby, sleep,_

_Your daddy's away,_

_Sleep, baby, sleep,_

_And mommy will pray,_

_Pray all the night_

_Through the sea's sullen roar,_

_Pray while I'm watching_

_And weeping so sore;_

_But there's daddy's voice_

_Coming up from the shore,_

_And now you and I_

_Are weeping no more,  
Now you and I_

_Are weeping no more,_

_Are weeping no more._

And when she finished, a single tear streamed down her face and the same for me. My loving mother was standing right in front of me, but I wasn't able to touch her, to wipe away the tear from her face and reassure her that everything was going to be okay. At least until that fateful day.

Suddenly, the scene began to change. I went forward in time and saw another flashback, except this time, of me when I was around two, starting to walk.

We were outside, bathing in the sunlight, but the shade from the forest trees provided a natural sunscreen. I tripped a couple of times, but I always got up and ran around. I watched amusingly at how weird I was. I guess that's why I was so weird.

"Mommy, I fell," I said as I walked over to my mother, who was sitting on a small stool. She picked me up and put me on her lap. Then, she tickled me and I laughed, thrashing around. I smiled at the memory of this day, however, I knew it wouldn't last long.

When she finally stopped tickling, she hugged me and I sat forward, and listened.

"You got up, you brave boy." She planted a kiss on my cheek. "You brave, brave boy." She rocked me back and forth and I felt myself drift off to sleep. She watched me slip into a nap and smiled at me. Then, she brought me inside.

The scene changed once again, when I was about four. I was sitting on one of her stools and had something over a table that I was poking at. My mother was cooking food and it looked blue. Odd, but cool.

"Mommy, when is dinner ready?" I whined. Now I understood how much of a burden I was to people. However, it was my mother who seemed to tolerate it.

"In a second, honey." She smiled and her hair was tied up in a messy pony tail, a few strands of hair falling to her face. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. She looked up and wiped her hands on a rag, then walked over to the door. When she opened it, her face turned pale.

"Hello, madam. Are you Sally Jackson, the mother of Perseus Jackson?" a man in royal clothes asked. His hair was blonde and he had blue eyes. There were other people behind him on horses, each and every one of them equipped with weapons.

"Y-yes," she answered. "Is something the matter?" The royal man asked if he was able to come in and she allowed him. A few others came in while the rest stayed out. She shut the door and sent me to my room. It seemed to be urgent.

When I left the room, they introduced themselves as men from the royal court. My mom nodded, not understanding what was going on.

"Is there something that you want from me?" They nodded. My eyes narrowed. They want something?

Suddenly, a feeling of dread washed over me and my mother realized what they wanted.

Me.

She shook her head. "No, no. No, you can't have him. No, you can't, he's my boy!" The guards looked genuinely sad, but had to follow their orders.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Jackson. But we must have the boy. I need you to turn him in to me. The king requests that he lives with him." Her eyes widen in fear and sadness. She was afraid that I'd be taken away. I wanted to shout out that I didn't want to live either, that I would stay with her for the rest of my life and avoid my princely duties. I didn't want to be prince, I just wanted my mother.

But of course, I couldn't do anything.

"Please don't make me give up the boy. Please don't." She pleaded, but the soldiers stares were on the ground. It pained them to see this happen.

"I am very sorry, ma'am, but I must bring the child to the king. He is of royal blood. I am terribly sorry." My mother suddenly began to cry and cover her face with her hands. The tears streamed down her face and another one of the guards went to my room to retrieve me.

The guard was a woman and she brought me out, holding my hand. My mother saw me. I was clearly confused.

"What's going on mommy?" The soldier lady let go of my hand. I ran up to her with my little feet and wiped some of the tears from her eyes. "Why are you crying?"

My mother stifled a cry and faced me, her eyes blood red and her nose the same color. She let out a big, shaky breath.

"Percy, you see these people right here?" I nodded. "Well, they say that you have to go somewhere for a while. You have to go live with your father for a few years." The smaller me shook my head.

"No, mommy, I want to live with you." She let out another sob.

"I'm sorry, honey. I can't do that. I can't live with you anymore." She gave me a big hug and I hugged her back.

"Why not? You're my mommy."

"That's not how things work, dear. But promise me one thing. You will be a strong, brave child. You will not let what others say harm you and you will always be with me. Got that?" I pulled away from my mother and nodded.

"I promise." I saw a tear run down my face and then, the guards came and picked me up.

"Please don't let them take me," I cried out once more, tears falling from my eyes. "Please, mommy, don't let these people take me."

"I love you, Percy," she called out, giving me one last kiss on the cheek.

"Please, don't go. Mommy, don't go!" I screamed. I tried to kick out of the soldiers grasp, but it was too hard and it didn't help. "No, let me go! I want to stay here! Let me go!"

"Goodbye, Percy. I love you." she cried, holding onto my hand, but it began to slip as they walked.

"Mommy! Don't leave me! MOMMY! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!" They walked out the door as my mother stayed in the kitchen, covering her mouth in horror at what happened. "MOMMY!" was the last thing that I had screamed before they walked out the door, got onto their horses, and brought me to the castle.

It was then I could finally move. I gasped and watched as my mother slowly sat down on the old couch and cry to herself, horrible and terrified. Her child was ripped from her arms and she wasn't able to protect him from it.

She covered her face with her hand and cried and cried. I walked over and patted her on the back, though I really doubt this would do. I was, in fact, in a flashback.

A sad expression crossed my face.

"I love you," was the last thing she said as I screamed and got up from bed, all covered in sweat.

I was breathing heavy, my eyes wide and I was sticky with sweat. My legs were positioned weird and I was terrified at what I had just dreamed.

A crew member ran to my dorm and opened the door, asking if I was alright. I said I was. Then, they urged me up.

"A storm has hit us."

I got out of bed and walked up to the ship. I was only ten, but I was pretty smart, although I rarely used it. The crew member was right, however. It was storming and the sea was churning, black waves crashing into the side of the ship. I stumbled to the right, then to the left as the sea water hit me in the face. The heavy winds brought over raining clouds, all dark and gray.

A large amount of the crew were pulling on the mast as the captain tried his best to steer the ship. There was another big bump on the side and I flew up into the air and landed on the edge of the ship, barely conscious.

I tried to get up and stood up tall. Then, a crack of lightning flashed through the dark sky and the echo of thunder boomed through the world. I tried to stand up straight.

And the worst thing possible happened.

My eyes widen and I try to move, but it was already too late when a mast had hit me and send me overboard. I was knocked off board and into the deep, dark, ocean.

I fell into the waters and emerged, gasping for air. Crew were screaming my name, but they didn't hear a response. I couldn't answer, afraid that I'd drown to death. They continue to scream and call out my name, but slowly disappeared, leaving me behind.

I started to loose consciousness Then, I drifted off and let the tide carry me.

When I woke up, you could figure out that I was not in a good state of being. I was laying on my back and I tried to push myself off from the sandy shore. I coughed and water spit out of my mouth. I wondered how I was able to get to land without dying in the water first. But I remembered that I liked water.

I winced in pain from the aching body parts I had. I lifted myself off the ground, crying out in pain, but eventually did it. I looked at myself from the neck down. My clothes were all tattered and ripped and wet. I looked up and observed my surroundings. It looked familiar. Then, I realized that I landed back at Aquatica, on the other side of the giant island.

For a while, I wandered the forest that was in front of me and continued walking. I wondered to myself how long I've been knocked out. I then found myself lurking near the edge of the woods, where a big hut lie. On the top, it read, 'Mrs. Poppy's Orphanage'. I decided to take a look.

When I entered the place, all eyes were on me and I found boys all ages strewed across the place. A big woman walked up to me all of a sudden and looked at me in disgust.

"What are you doing, boy? Are you an orphan?" I shook my head.

"I'm Prince Perseus. I was wondering if you knew the way back to the castle?" I ask her. I expected her to smile and bow down, but she crossed her arms and her glare didn't change.

"Do you know how many of those I got since the prince died?" Died?

"What do you mean?"

"I've been getting so many boys your age, saying that they're Prince Perseus and that they need special treatment. When I found out there were more than one, I gave them double to chores they had to do! All of them!"

"No, what you said before. The prince is dead?" She smiled.

"Yes, he's dead. Had you not heard? The boy was a disaster. He wasn't worthy of the kingdom and fell overboard on a ship a month ago." My eyes widen in horror. A month? I was out for a month? "They still have missing posters around the town, but it's just false hope. The prince is gone. But I must say, you do look most like him. I've seem many imposters, but you're the first one I've seen with a face that is just like his."

"What about the king and queen?" I ask her. She shook her head.

"They haven't heard anything, but I doubt that they were sad. Rumor has it that they sent the boy to Sparta so that he can come back with the right attitude. If you ask me, they never wanted him. He was a mistake. And now, if he comes back, civil war might be brewing. If the other kingdoms find out that Prince Perseus is alive, then they will take back all their money for the kingdom and just say that they planned it. We must not have that happen." Mrs. Poppy turned to me and her brown curls were bouncing around her face.

A deep anger rose up. They didn't want me? They were going to leave me there? And I thought about one more thing. If they were to find out that I was alive, the other kingdoms will accuse them of a crime that they didn't commit.

So it's probably the best if I were to stay here and pretend to be an orphan.

I look at Mrs. Poppy and she raised her eyebrow.

"Can I have a room?" I asked.

And that's how I became Percy Jackson, the orphan boy, who has no past. I dyed my hair brighter so that others couldn't recognize me. I stole and cheat. I lived a lie for the next two years until the inevitable happened.

I am the Orphan Prince.

* * *

**This is not the end of the story, if you're wondering. Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 14

As Daniel pulled his knife closer to Annabeth, she winced in pain. There was a trickle of blood that had reached down to her shirt. Her head was lifted as she stare lifelessly at me. With every tug that Daniel made at her neck, she brought her head up more, her eyes closing little by little.

I couldn't do anything, but stand there like an idiot. My eyes were wide open and terrified at how they found out about me. No one was suppose to know. No one.

"Let her go!" I yell at them. I couldn't care less if someone was out the door. That would be better, but I suspected that everyone was already asleep.

"Should I, Percy Jackson?" Trevor snapped his finger and the arm that was around Annabeth's waist tightened, seeming to choke her. She was in-taking all the air she could breath in. I needed Daniel to let her go.

"Just let her go. She didn't do anything!" He chuckled bitterly.

"Oh, but you don't know. She's a very important pawn to my victory." I was ready to pound this guy in the face, but if I made one move, Annabeth could die.

My hands were rolled in fists. I didn't know what to do. Luke was halfway through the town already and I was alone, helpless with no one else to do anything.

Finally, I let my hands fall down to my side.

"Fine. What do you want?" I growled. Trevor chuckled again.

"I want you to go." My eyebrows scrunched up and I was confused.

"Then why didn't you kill me? Why did Annabeth have to be part of this?"

"Because you know who she is, right Percy?" I saw Annabeth's eyes finally open a little, regaining strength to listen to the conversation. She let out a few words, inaudible. I couldn't hear any of it.

"Yes, I do. Now, let her go. She has nothing to do with it!"

"Oh, I will. Only after you run. I will watch you. If you don't leave, your precious girlfriend will have her throat slit. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" First of all, she's not my girlfriend, but why was I thinking about it during this time?

Am I supposed to run? Part of me wanted to run. To make sure that Annabeth was okay. I was afraid of having someone close to me die because I was stubborn.

However, another part of me wanted to stay. To prove that I was the best prince there was and to prove Santos, Daniel, Trevor, and the whole kingdom what I'm capable of.

It was unfair. I had no idea what I was going to do. Should I stay? My friend could die. Should I go? I'm running away. Again.

After a few seconds of tough debate, I finally made up my mind and looked sadly at Annabeth. I'm sorry.

"I'll leave." I gulped and the other two smiled at my decision.

"Very well, Prince Percy. If that's what you want." But it wasn't I didn't want to leave, but I didn't have a choice.

I look at Annabeth one last time until I reached the window and climbed out. I stood my the edge of the mansion and looked back, the moonlight radiating on me. The white shirt I wore glowed warmly in the room. I could see Annabeth's stone stare at me. They were also pleading.

"I'm sorry Annabeth." And then, I jumped off.

I hadn't thought about how I would be able to land, but I didn't have time to think, so I think m answer was justifiable. Let's just say that jumping off a two story mansion was not the best escape plan.

When I landed, I felt like I was on fire. My ankles were twisted in a kind of bent sort of way. It looked crippled and when I touched it, it burned.

Quickly, I got myself off of the ground before any found out that I was here. When I stood, I almost screamed. I hid it in so that I wouldn't wake anyone up. But before I staggered off, I looked up again to see Trevor smiling down at me, his eyes narrowed, a sharp emerald green light. His hair was pitch black, dark enough to get lost in.

"Good bye, Prince," I saw him mouth. I bit my lip and gave him a hard glare. There was dirt on my face, my clothes all ripped and tattered form the forest. There was blood on my foot and my hair was a dirty rats nest. I could barely make out what was going on and I was loosing consciousness faster and faster. I could practically see my eyes turn cloudy, a nasty hue of green like I was drowning in water.

I tried the best I could to run from the mansion. I could see the woods, a few yards from where I was standing. I look back once more and saw Trevor's face, filled with hate and delight. He was amused that I was hurting.

Cursing, I stumbled all the way to the forest.

When I reached the woods in the dead of the night, I remembered the way that Luke had showed me. I found the rock that I had stumbled over and I coughed, blood splattering on the rock. I was bleeding badly and I was about to pass out.

I tripped over another stone, this time landing on my knees. I coughed and pressed my eyes closed. I felt the pain surge up into my body. And finally, for the first time in years, I let out a big, huge scream.

My world was falling apart, crumbling. I screamed and screamed, letting the tears fall down my face. My hands were in fists once again and I pounded the floor as hard as I could. My hair was shaking on my forehead. I coughed again, my head spinning and my limbs numb.

I could hear my screams echo into the night. The tears kept falling down and I let out all the pain I had. My clothes were ripped. I had no home. No one accepted me. All I have left is myself, bearing all this pain on my shoulders. So I let it go.

I punched the ground once again, harder and harder until my knuckles were bloody and dirty. My wounds were being infected my the dirt that enveloped me, but I couldn't care less. I had scrapes on my forehead, my chest, my leg, everywhere, I was bloody and I kept screaming.

There was no one to tell me to stop, no one telling me what I should be or lecturing me about the rules. There was no one left to tell me anything. And that scared me.

I was left alone in a dark world, everyone I knew, everything I was taught, was all wrong in my head. They've been trying to exclude me from the others, knowing that I'd one day break.

I continue to cry like a five year old boy, looking for his mother. I didn't stop myself from sucking it up, nor did I let myself wipe my tears. Instead, I sat up straight, then plopped back down on the ground, covering my eyes with my forearm, crying into them as I lay on the dirty, wet floor.

I heard crickets in between my cries. The wind was blowing through my hair, making it float up and dusting it with dirt. My back was aching. The pain was so great.

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder and rain started to pour down. It was crying along with me, the sky. It was letting go of all the pain that it took in and letting it all flow back out, into the land. And into the ocean.

I took my arm away from my head, but I kept crying. I let the rain brush away my tears like no one has ever done before. I let it wash the dirt from my face and my wounds. I let it cover me in water and conceal the red streaks that were on my face. I let the rain calmly make me stop. It's gentle pitter patter was all I needed to finally look up at the dark sky once more, and drift off into unconsciousness

I didn't know what happened after that.

I just woke up, terrified, but straightened myself up. I looked around my surroundings. Yesterday's rain had left some plants blooming and pointing itself at the sunlight. My looked up and my heart ached.

The sun was smiling down at me, telling me good morning. There was a soft warmth that it filled inside of me and I smiled back at it. My took my arm and brushed my hair to the side, which was stiff from the mud and dirt.

After laying down for the night, I found myself covered in dirt on the back side. It didn't seem I moved that often, more staying at one position than turning to another. My clothes were still wet though, so I stayed there for a few more minutes to let the sun do more of it's smiling.

I checked my lips. They had burst apart, but it wasn't that bad. I looked down at my leg and almost yelled from the nasty yellow and purple tint that it left. It was swollen and looked inflamed. There wasn't any scaring from what I was seeing.

"I'm so stupid," I said to myself, recalling the night. My face fell and remembered that I had left Annabeth by herself. She was in the arms of Trevor and Daniel, the two most evil little villains I know. If they tell Santos that I ran off, than he'd send some of his guards to hunt me down like bloodhounds until he had my heart. Santos couldn't afford to lose me, after what he had told all of us during the month. All that training, wasted.

I could see Annabeth's terrified face and was aware that today was the day the Princess of Alvy was going to come. I want to meet her.

When the sun was slightly covered by some clouds, I got up and stumbled over to the nearest tree, resting on it while looking down on the ground. There was a small puddle on the bottom of the tree and I stepped in it. Instantly, I regained some of my strength.

My eyes were puffy and swollen as well from the amount of crying I did from the night before. I didn't think that I was ever capable of doing such thing. I didn't know how much pain I'd been carrying until now.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw a small lake, surrounded by trees. It seemed to shimmer when the sun hit it after hiding behind the clouds. I turned towards it, captivated by its beauty.

I slowly walked over, making sure I wouldn't step on anything. I had no shoes on.

When I reached the edge of the lake, I had a whole better view. It shined brighter and I had to look away from it so that it wouldn't burn my eyes.

I noticed that it was crystal clear. There wasn't a lot of cloudy cover and it reflected the sky perfectly. From the top, I saw a few small fish roaming on the bottom, feeding off of the vegetation. I almost smiled at the lake.

Then, I found the urge to dive into it. I took my shirt off, exposing all the scars that I had received, and just jumped right in.

The coldness of the lake was a shock. It was freezing and I swam up to the surface in a matter of seconds, panicking. I choked on the water and splashed around. It was like this for a few seconds until I finally calmed down and floated in the water. It wasn't that cold anymore.

I carefully swam near the fish, putting my head in the water so that I could open my eyes and see what was in the lake. There was tons of fish, more than I had expected, and the coral was a reflection of the sky. Now that I looked at it closer, it was a treasure. The reefs and coral were not the reflection of the clouds, but it was what it actually looked like. The sea and the sky.

I smiled underwater and the water slipped into my wounds, cleaning it out. It stung at first, but gradually became calming and felt nice. The water splashed on my face and I looked up at the surface, eyes wide. All my worries were finally gone. They were dwindling. And I loved it.

I couldn't care anymore.

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**Sorry for short chapter. Hope you enjoy!**


	14. Chapter 15

I was laying down on the grass, shirtless. The sun was still smiling down on me and I smiled right back at it. I covered my eyes with my arm after a while and just relaxed. The soft wind was blowing through my hair and picking it up. My skin became cool from the water and the air.

I couldn't have found myself in an even more relaxed position. I felt so at peace, unlike ever before. It was all full of disaster and I couldn't stop fussing over all the rules I had to follow. I'm finally free.

I continue to just stay there for a little, feeling the sun being covered sometimes by the clouds.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me, fast and strong. I carefully take the arm off my head and look at the forest behind me, the way I ran from. For a terrifying moment, I wondered if it was Santos's guards and thugs.

I waited for a few seconds, which felt like minutes, and stared at the woods, carefully. Trevor and Daniel must've told Santos about me running away. They must've made a lie and made Annabeth stay quiet.

For a few more moments, I stared, but eventually brushed it off. If it wasn't Santos's thugs, I couldn't find anything else more terrifying.

However, right after I sat forward, Luke sprang out of the forest and ran over to me. His face was red with fury and pushed me down on the ground.

"Why did you leave?" he screamed. My eyes were open wide and I saw the worry that was in his eyes. "Answer me! Why did you leave Annabeth there alone?"

"I didn't have any other choice," I answered back, half deflated, like a balloon.

"What do you mean? You had plenty of choices! You just picked the wrong one!" he continued to yell. By now, I sat up, pushed him off, and stood up, putting back on my ripped and dirty clothes. Then, I stood in front of him and looked up to meet his dark eyes.

"I didn't have a choice. If I hadn't have left, then Daniel would have killed Annabeth. I thought that if I left, she would be spared. Would you have liked it better if I stayed?" His eyes suddenly seem to soften and I walked over to the forest, leaving behind the lake.

Luke ran after me and burdened me with more questions.

"What do you mean? Why couldn't you just tell Santos? How are they able to do that if they didn't know you were..." He stopped when his words faded and turned wide eyed at me. I tried not to meet his eyes.

"They found out?" he whispered softly, but it was more of a hoarse voice from the yelling. When I hadn't given him back an answer, he took that as a yes. "How? How did they know?"

I shook my head.

"I'm not sure. They really didn't tell me all about it. Just two choices. Stay and watch Annabeth's throat get slit. Or I could run away like a coward, but save my friends life. Now that I ran, I don't actually know if they spared Annabeth or not. She knows now, so either they use her in their sick puzzle, or they get rid of her."

The possibilities seemed to scare Luke to death. His face was just as pale as Annabeth's when I saw her with the knife to her throat.

"What should we do now?" I shrugged.

"You're older. How am I suppose to know. I can't go back. The best thing to do know is to go far away and hope that Sage's thugs don't find me. I need a new identity." Luke tugged on my shoulder and shook me.

"You can't!" he cried out. "Annabeth's there and I can't do anything about it! But you. Oh, you can do something! Trevor and Daniel already know your true identity, so that means they can use it against you, and eventually a kingdom. Now, I'm not sure because I don't go to school, but I'm pretty sure that Trevor plus Daniel equals big trouble."

"Then what do you expect me to do? It's not like I can just go back and tell Santos that they're bad guys. He'll make me explain everything and will find out that I'm actually prince. If he does, he'll kill me and everyone I know, including you, Grover, and Annabeth."

We continue to walk, thinking of as many ideas as we could. We brought up a bunch, but there were holes in it that can cause even more damage than repair it. There was no solution.

After a while of walking, I got tired and sat down on a stump. I longed for the lake once more, but I knew it would distract me from saving Annabeth. I need a plan...

"What if we..." Luke stopped and shook his head, burying it into his hands. "No, that won't work. We'll need thousands of people to do that."

"How about we..." I start, but falter and stayed silent. There wasn't much to go on. Luke had a few weapons, but they weren't enough to take on Santos's guards. But suddenly, I remembered that I had Annabeth's knife.

My face lit up and I dove into my pants pockets, hoping to find the knife lodged in. I found it.

Luke looked at me curiously, then shock when I brought it out and showed it to him.

"It's Annabeth's knife." He took it and unsheathed it, the soft, dim light of the blade reflecting onto his face.

"Wow, how did you get this? Annabeth has always been careful about this stuff. She would never let this out of sight." I shrugged.

"I was in her closet when I found it. She was talking to a maid when I found it." Luke looked at me questioningly and I immediately knew what he was thinking. "Oh my gods, nothing happened! I was just talking to her when some lady came in and I was forced into the closet to save her butt."

"Well, that's no way to talk to her," he teased. "Remember that she is very powerful and once her identity is known, there is no way for her to escape. You have to be extra careful in hiding your identities." He handed back the blade and I strapped it across my pants with a belt Luke gave me.

"This doesn't help though. I only have one knife. That isn't going to help. But if we could just find a way..." Just then, Luke gasped.

"The Princess of Alvy is coming today, right?" he asked. I nodded. Some princess. "What if we..." he whispered his idea into my ear and with every word, I smiled. When he was done, I punched him in the shoulder and wished that he was my older brother.

"That, my good sir, is the best idea I've ever heard of."

Third Person POV

Trevor paced through the boys room, putting everything neatly into stacks while putting on his clothes. He stared at the mirror, straightening out his clothes. He made a small smile and saw Daniel in the background, starting to put on his clothes.

"We will make a huge impression on the princess, don't you think Daniel?" Daniel smiled as well and turned.

"That is correct." Then, he turned over to a girl with curly blonde hair and scrapes on her face. She stared at the two evilly, wanting to punch them in the face through her bounds, but she wasn't able to escape the tight grasp of the ropes that were tied around her.

"You will never make an impression on the princess. In fact, you'll never make an impression on anyone with that face." However, Daniel and Trevor just smiled wider.

"You know, your boyfriend looks like us. Percy Jackson, that is." Annabeth turned.

"He's not my boyfriend, but I know that he'll be ten times more likely than you to make an impression on anyone!" She tried struggling again, but couldn't break through it. It felt like gold chains and she wondered how they were able to tie a rope around her that tight. Were there more people like her? Was that why they knew how to tie it that hard?

When the boys were done dressing, they walked over to Annabeth. By now, the night was dark and there were small lights outside, showing the way for carriages for the princess.

"Ah, there she is now," they said, peering out the window. All of their stuff had been hidden away so that if any checked, they couldn't find anything. They also got rid of Percy's belongings, which weren't much.

"Too bad the prince isn't here to enjoy it," Daniel said with false sympathy.

Trevor chuckled. "Looks like our poor little prince will just have to bare losing his princess." They both sneered and walked out the door, but not before turning to Annabeth.

"Behave, or I'll come back up here and I'll make sure that I'm the last face you'll ever see." She glared at the both of the one last time and watched them walk off out the door.

She thought for a moment, knowing that she was helpless.

Had the two really think that they'd get away with it? Does Santos know that she and Percy were missing? Was there anyone that was going to save her?

Then, she thought back to the time when Percy had the picture in his hand when she was talking to the maid. She flung open the closet door and looked angrily at Percy as he was going to see something that she didn't want anyone to know. But it was too late. She had a feeling that Percy had already figured it out.

She wanted to apologize and say sorry for getting mad at him. If he had a secret identity, then she had one too. But if he were to give it up, than she wouldn't expect anything else but for her to give up her's as well.

Things were complicated in Aquatica. She didn't think that when she crossed over, anything would be different. But there was that one job offer that she took, resuming to the craziness in her life only a few months after she made her long journey here. She was happy that Grover worked along here, that he had her back, but she was more afraid for Grover and hoped for the best.

Then, there was Luke. He said that he would return after he dropped her off at the mansion. Annabeth held onto her word and knew that one day, he would return and bring her back with him, escaping this prison with Grover.

And now, they have a new member.

Annabeth knew that Percy would never be able to replace Thalia, but he would be a close second. She felt bad comparing her friends, especially in a desperate time like this and that brought her back to reality.

She looked around the dark room, her eyes suddenly adjusting herself to her surroundings. There wasn't anything really sharp in the room. She wished that she had her knife with her, but she was stupid and left that in her closet a few days ago. She hasn't checked since.

She continue to scour the room, looking for anything that might be useful in cutting off the rope. Then, she spotted the mirror that Trevor and Daniel were looking at themselves through.

A plan made a way to her head. Although she didn't believe in the seven years of bad luck myth, she knew not to push her luck.

Luckily, her feel were tied together and she got up and staggered over to the mirror, feeling slightly queasy and nauseous.

"You can do this,

Annabeth," she motivated herself softly. Then, she brought up her leg and kicked the mirror. However, it didn't budge.

She kicked it a second time. Nothing. She sighed and stared straight ahead, looking at the dark reflection when suddenly, she kicked it with the last of her strength and the glass shards came tumbling down onto the ground.

Hurrying, she quickly squatted onto the floor, bent over on her back, and grab a large, sharp piece of the mirror and started to cut through her bounds. She hoped that the mirror hadn't caused any noise and that no one would come up to find her there.

'Just a little more...' Finally, she broke free.

She stood up, rubbing her arms that were compressed together. She rolled her neck and cracked her knuckles. No wonder she ran away from home.

Silently, she crept to the door and opened it, hearing talking downstairs, including the chatter and giggles of the princess. Annabeth scoffed and waited at the stair case, wondering what she was going to do next.

As quietly as possible, she stepped down on step on the stair case and prayed it wouldn't make a sound. It didn't. She continued to do the process over and over again, trying to do it the fastest she could as well.

Although it was worth a try, she hadn't thought of anything after that. Was she suppose to escape? Was she going to tell Santos about the two?

She was debating against herself when a sudden whoosh of air came from the talking and laughter of the dining room. This intrigued her and she stepped down more and peered over the sides of the dining hall and gasped.

In the middle of the dining room, standing straight and tall, was none other than Percy Jackson himself.

"Sorry. Am I late?"

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**Enjoy and review!**


	15. Chapter 16

**I am sooooo sorry for not updating. Since winter started, I ended up getting sick. Then, all the teachers were cramming in tests right before winter break. Also, have you guys heard about the Connecticut shooting? It's horrible. R.I.P to all the kids, staff, and teachers that were killed, the ones that lived through the nightmare, and the ones that endured all the pain and suffering.**

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I stood in the middle of the room, facing each and everyone that was in the dinning room. I looked over and Trevor and Daniel, who were standing by the tables, serving food. Of course, they had their masks on, to keep their identity hidden, but I could see the shock come on their faces. Even through the mask, I could only imagine how afraid they were.

Then, I turn towards Santos, who was staring at me with a death glare. His eyes were twitching and there was a flame in this eyes. However, he didn't shoo me off completely.

I was dressed like all the other servants. A white dress shirt, black pants, nice shoes, and a mask on to hide my face.

"No, you did not miss anything. Now, please serve the food to her highness," Santos demanded, keeping his cool. I slightly grinned and walked over with food I took from Daniel and set the plate down in front of her.

"Your meal, your highness," I whispered in her ear. The princess giggled. She was my age, around twelve, with wild blue eyes and bouncy curls that were cascading down the side of her face. When she blushed, I noticed that she had some freckles sprinkled across her cheeks and nose. Her face was longish, but beautiful. The dress she was wearing was a light pink and white dress that hugged her curves, but got more and more puffy towards the bottom.

"Thank you," she said. I smiled at her and back up, walk back towards the other two, and stood next to them. I could feel the heat that emitted from them. They were angry all right. But that's what I want.

When Santos continued to talk to the princess, I was pulled by the two and dragged into the hallway.

"What are you doing here, Jackson!" Trevor yelled at me, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. He them moved to a secluded room, where the walls are thick and no one could hear. The stairs were a few yards away. "You're supposed to be gone, remember?"

"But I came back," I said.

"Remember that we have Annabeth. If you came back, than we would kill her," Daniel exclaimed.

"I'll give you two choices," Trevor offered and I was happy to listen. "You either leave now and don't come back a second time, or I'll kill little Annie bell."

Suddenly, there was a voice behind us and I saw Annabeth staggering down the stairs.

"I'm right here, Trevor. Daniel." They turned around, horrified.

"What are you doing here?" they shout. "You're supposed to be tied up!"

I gave a glare to the two of them.

"You guys tied her up?" My eyes had narrowed closer and I was about to push the both of them up the wall and punch them in the face. But then I remembered about the plan and calmed down.

I turn back to them and took my mask off, showing my face.

"I'll give you two choices," I imitated. "First, you either run away forever and never come back, or second, I'll tell Santos about you two. I'm sure you guys are going to be arrested. Have a nice time in prison."

Trevor chuckled. "As if. If we run away, than you are going to die. Santos obviously doesn't want anyone finding out about his little plan, so we might as well just leave you here to rot. Then, there's you telling him. If you tell Santos, it'll be revealed that you are the prince of Aquatica. Santos will surely kill you and make one of us kings. You won't have time to tell him because before you do, I'll make sure he finds out. About Annabeth as well."

But instead of quivering in fear, I chuckled. They seemed taken back.

Daniel asked, "What's wrong? Why are you laughing?"

"Because you guys are stupid." I stopped laughing and looked at the two, while making sure that Annabeth had my back. "Did you really think that I'd come here alone? Don't you think I thought about what you were going to say? Go on, go tell Santos. Let's see what he thinks."

"Don't be such a fool! Of course we're going to tell Santos!" But they seemed flustered and neither one of them volunteered to stand up to Santos.

"See? Don't you get it? You guys are afraid. Only when you become prince can you defeat Santos. And that's when you have an army behind you. Me? I have nothing to lose. So go on. Tell him. I dare you to," I said, the end of my lip curling up. I felt powerful, but I made sure I wouldn't go too far.

Then, Santos called out for us and we heard. Right when we did, I walked out of the room, followed by Trevor and Daniel. Annabeth followed behind me, making sure the other two don't do anything stupid. It's nice to have a companion that will watch you.

Before I made it to the dining room, I spot Grover on the top of the stairs. My mask was still off, but I smiled and winked and he got the message. Grover smiled and walked away.

I put my mask back on when we reached the place. No one saw me without it as we walked towards the table.

"I presume that you are done, milady?" I ask the princess politely. Just because I don't pay attention to class doesn't mean I'm any less mannered.

She gave a flirtatious smile and nodded.

"Yes. You may take it now." Her words were smooth, unlike any other I've heard before, but I never did get used to people like this.

I took her food and brought it over to Annabeth. I nodded and she carried the food back to the kitchen by herself, since she knew that I needed to hear more about the princess.

"So," Santos started when he saw that all three of us were lined up, "Princess, do you ever wonder about your marriage to the prince of Aquatica one day?" I let out a small sigh.

She hesitated, but nodded.

"Yes, I have. I want to meet my husband before I marry him, just to see what he's really like." At that moment, she shot a look at me and I smiled. It's working.

"Have you?" Santos questioned. The princess shook her head.

"Not yet. My parents haven't allowed me to meet the prince yet. They haven't told me why. Just that the prince had other business to do. Of course, being the youngest son to the throne, I really doubted that he had anything to do. Can you tell me where he is?"

I suddenly stiffen. They were talking about me. Has she not heard? About the missing prince? About how Prince Percy had swept off to sea?

"Sadly, princess, I must say that I cannot show you where stays. That would go against the highness's orders. I'm only protecting you. It'd be better if you don't know." She slumped back in her chair.

"Bummer. I thought it'd be nice to meet a nice gentleman. Say, your servants are very well trained. I've been wondering where do you get such nice people?" Her hands were crossed and she leaned forward so that her head rested on her interlocked hands.

Santos let out a cough, but spoke. "They are found by the best people of the land. We find recruits from the outside of Aquatica, mostly from the boundaries of our two kingdoms. They are rich boys who need to learn the success of their ways from their fathers and mothers. Then, I have my best men dress them up and teach them everything they know."

The princess smiled once again. "Is that so?"

Dessert was on its way. I walked to the kitchen and grabbed the desert that the guests ordered. I was supposed to bring one to the princess's guardian, but another butler from Santos's mansion came over and whispered in my ear to bring it to the princess. She wanted me to serve it.

And being the gentleman I was, I walked out of the kitchen and brought the dessert to the princess. I could practically see Trevor and Daniel fuming, waiting to have the chance to talk to the princess, but I'm smothering it.

When I put the dish down in front of the princess, she stopped me for a second and looked at me, right in the eyes.

"How would you like to come work for me?" she suddenly ask. Everyone could hear the question and my eyes widen in shock.

"I'm sorry, princess, but he's only a boy in training," Santos answered quickly. "He doesn't have enough experience to serve for someone, especially for someone as royal and beautiful as you." Smooth move.

"Bummer," the princess said with a huff of her breath. I could feel the blood start to circulate again and I loosened up.

After the eating and chatting, Santos had ordered Trevor, Daniel, and I to a room to talk. I had a suspicion of what it might be.

"The princess wants to stay over for the night," he dropped on us. My eyebrows raised slightly, but it hadn't surprised me.

"Really?" Trevor asked. He straightened out his shirt and smoothed his hair. Daniel started to jog in place and push the hair from his eyes. I stood there, with my arms crossed.

"She's going to need a servant tonight," Santos said, obviously worried that his plan might not work. "And she personally requested that Percy serves her." I lost my balance and the two dropped their jaws.

"B-but, he's not even the smartest of us!" Trevor yelled.

"Or the strongest!" Daniel complained.

"But the most charming," I said, in a sing song voice. The two glared at me and I narrowed my eyes, making sure they remember about the talk we had during dinner.

"I do not make the decisions. The princess wants what the princess wants." Santos turns to me. "Make sure you don't do anything stupid. If anything happens, I will kill you immediately and let one of the other two to win." And with that, he left the room.

When I reached the princess's room, I softly knocked on her door. I had a tray with a candle, flowers, and toiletries that the guests in the mansion often got.

The princess opened the door and was delighted when she saw that it was me.

"Come in," she greeted. I walked in and she closed the door behind her. I turn around and notice that she was wearing different clothes. Her hair looked brushed, her dress was looser, and the shoes that she was wearing looked comfier.

"Greetings, milady I would like to thank you for choosing me as your personal servant," I said and bowed down.

"You're welcome." She walked over to her bed and sat down. "You're very charming and charismatic, has anyone told you that?" I shook my head.

"No, ma'am." She smiled sweetly.

"Where did you learn to act like this? Like such a prince?" I stiffen for the second time today and shrugged.

"Santos's servants have taught me well. I use to live with a rich family that took care of me. My father lived with me, but my mother died when I was young. However, we have a successful business and my father wants me to train to become a gentleman so I can follow his footsteps."

The princess smiled and seemed to believe my story.

"That's very nice. I hope that you will one day be successful." I bowed down to her and was about to walk out the door when she stopped me.

"Wait," she grabbed my hand. I whipped around. "Why don't you stay a little longer? You're hear anyways." She didn't let go of my arm and brought me over closer to the window.

"I'm sorry, princess, but I have to go." I try to squirm out, but she didn't let go.

"At least tell me your name." I thought for a bit.

"It's Jake." She shook her head.

"You're lying."

"I really have to go, your highness." I tried a second time, but her grip just tightened.

"Tell me," she demanded. There was no way out of this. Either I tell her and get revealed, or run, but have Santos get mad at me for doing so.

"It's Nick." She shook her head again.

"You're lying! Tell me!" By now, she grabbed my arm until the blood flow stopped and I desperately tried to get out of her grip.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not able to." Then, I whip my arm from her grip and ran out the room, slamming the door behind me. I could hear her yell in frustration and I ran faster down the hallways.

There were people already crowding around the princess's room. Servants, her guardians, and even Santos. I silently curse because then, I heard crying. She was kneeling on the ground, her arms bruising.

Suddenly, I saw the princess point, straight through the crowd, and right at me.

"It was him!" she cried. "He did this!"


	16. Chapter 17

"Guards!" Santos screamed, pointing at me. "Arrest him!"

All at once, a large group of guards came rushing in and the largest one grabbed me by the collar, picking me off the ground. I kicked and punched the air, but wasn't able to hurt anyone. I tried reasoning.

"I didn't do it!" I screamed. "Can't you see that the princess is lying?" Of course they wouldn't listen to me. It's the princess.

"Than who else would cause the bruises on her arms? Herself?" Santos asked. I sounded stupid. Like a madman. But I felt like a kid too. No one would believe me.

"Yes!" Santos brushed it off.

"Take him to the dungeon," he ordered and I was taken away from the crowd of people, the last thing I saw was the smug look on Daniel and Trevor's faces.

The guards had pushed me down the dark, dirty spiral stairs with shackles locking my hands behind my back. The mask got ripped off halfway through and their swords were pointing at my back. My feet were worn out and I stumbled down the last few stairs before they shoved me into the small cell.

I was about to run and get out until they shut the cell bars on me and I couldn't get out.

"Please, I didn't do anything!"

"That's not likely," I heard one of them say, and they descended back to the top of the stairs. It was silent for the first few minutes I was standing in there, but I heard hard footsteps getting louder and louder until I saw Santos with the most terrifying look on his face. Pure anger.

He walked over to the cell and struck the metal bars with his sword. I flinched.

"What were you thinking!" he screamed at me. "I took you in, fed you ,cleaned you up, and this is what I get back? YOU HURTING THE FUTURE QUEEN OF AQUATICA!" His face was only shone through the dim lights from the torches he and his men were holding.

"I swear, I had nothing to do with it."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because it's the truth! She asked me for my name and I thought I wouldn't be able to tell her since she would know about the prince scandal! I was doing it to save you!"

The more words I spat out, the angrier Santos got. He glowered at me and banged at the bars once again, but I stood my ground behind them.

"Why didn't you just lie to her."

"I tried! She didn't believe me!" Suddenly, Santos's face calmed down just for a few seconds. He seemed to reconsider what the princess had said and maybe I would get away with it. But then, his face turned back to stone cold iciness.

"Bring him to the shackle chamber." My eyes widen in horror and as the guards slide open the cell doors, I backed away until I felt the cold walls touch my back.

"No, please, no," I begged. "Please don't make me go there." But to no prevail.

The men grabbed me by my arms, legs and waist until I was hoisted up off the ground and carried out the small cell and brought me into a different room.

"Don't do this, Santos," I pleaded. "Please..." But as I was hoisted into the room, I saw Santos with a pained look on his face. So I stopped pleading.

When I reached the room, the first thing I could see was a cross on the wall. There were shackles that were located where the hands were supposed to go and it was at least two feet off the ground.

The guards brought me up, shackled me up onto the cross. They tightened the straps on my wrist and I winced in pain. I hung from the ground and wall up in the air. Santos walked in with a big, burly man with a mask behind him.

I started to shake out of fear.

"Please, Santos. I promise I won't do it again. Please..." But he didn't listen.

"Percy Jackson, for the heinous crime of attacking the Princess of Alvy, I shall give you the punishment of a whip. You will be struck across your body. I am sorry to say that." Then, he walked out of the cell and left me alone with the man. He had a whip in his hand.

He walked closer and I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain.

Instead of a strong sting across my body, I got a full lash and I screamed in pain. I looked up and saw that the person behind the mask didn't care about anything.

He whipped me across my chest a second time. I screamed once again, but louder. My eyes stung with tears and my shirt was tearing apart again. My hair spilled across my forehead and as I hung down to breath, it covered my eyes.

He hit me again.

I let out the third scream. I started to breath heavy. There was no one there to save me.

I could feel the blood spurting out my mouth. It ran down my chin and dripped on the dungeon grounds, like hundreds of other people who have suffered the same wrath. That made me wonder if there was anyone else like me who was being forced into participating in becoming the prince.

The fourth lash.

This was the most painful because my shirt had torn apart and it all fell to the ground. Just my bare skin was showing. I screamed, louder than before.

This went on for a while. I lost track of time. I didn't remember how many times he had lashed out at me. The blood flowed down faster. I was losing time.

I was blacking out. I couldn't feel my body, except for the immense sting that had laid across my body. My eyes were getting red, I could feel it. The eyelids were drooping, wanting me to fall back and forget about the pain.

But if I fall unconscious, than who knows how much worse they can do to me. What if they have something else planned. Maybe this was just the beginning. Santos wants me to pay for the crimes that I had not committed. He wants to see people suffer, that I can make sure of.

After a while, or what seemed like eternity, I could see the burly man stop and suddenly, walk out of the room, leaving me with my head drooping, my body aching, and my arms numb.

That's when I fell unconscious.

Of course I would have another dream. It was about time I had one.

And again, I saw my mother.

She was growing old, her hair graying. I could see a few premature wrinkles start to form around her eyes from the lack of sleep. From how much she's aged, it looked like it was a few years since I left. But she still seems to remember that day like it was just yesterday.

But her voice was silk because she began to sing another song, different from the one she sang when I was a baby.

_The old moon is tarnished,_

_With smoke of the flood,_

_The dead leaves are varnished_

_With color like blood._

_A treacherous smiler_

_With teeth white as milk, _

_A savage beguiler_

_In sheathings of silk._

_The sea creeps to pillage,_

_She leaps on her prey;_

_A child of the village_

_Was murdered here today._

When she finished, I could feel a chill run down my spine. She was talking about a murder. A very creepy murder. What kind of song was is?

She didn't seem like my mother. How could she sing about something so treacherous?

But then, she started to fade away and the familiar feeling of waking up overtook me.

I lurched forward with the sound of my name.

"Percy..." someone whispered very gently. Slowly, I look up, opening my eyes to the whiteness that appeared before me. It was something shiny, something that was glowing. When my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could make out a figure behind it.

It was Annabeth.

"Annabeth," I croak, seeing her blonde hair tied back in a messy ponytail. Her gray eyes shined with concern. Her eyebrows were hunched up and her mouth was frowning in worry.

"You're really stupid, you know, Seaweed Brain," she told me. I let out a very weak chuckle.

"It's my specialty," I try to joke back, but it took away most of my power.

"Really, you shouldn't be so reckless." She took a soft, silk sheet from one of her pockets and gently wipes my face of the dirt and blood. I winced in pain as she was getting closer to the wound. "Sorry," she apologized.

"It's okay." I watch her as she began to clean me up and two guards came down to unlock me from my shackles. They let me down and I rubbed my wrist, hoping the blood would flow back. Annabeth continued to wipe my face. I guess Santos finally let me down.

I look at her and instantly, I felt the need to apologize.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry," I said, my voice croaking with pain. She shook her head.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It was my fault that you're here in the first place. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be in such a mess." Then I smiled. It got even wider when I noticed that Grover was coming down the stairs, looking far more scared than I did.

"Guys, can we just go up to the rooms for cleaning him up? This place scares me," he whimpered. Annabeth and I chuckled and she shook her head.

"The princess is still there. She might be outraged if she sees Percy up there." Annabeth began to wrap my wounds with bandages that Grover had brought down and they both helped me up.

"Thanks, guys. I wouldn't have asked for better friends." It was then that I realized these were my friends. They were my only friends. And my best friends.

"No need to thank us," Annabeth said proudly. "We know what we're doing, unlike someone over here," she said sarcastically and Grover snorted out loud.

"Are you talking about me?" I asked. The didn't say anything, but I got it. "Psh, you guys! I take back what I said about having asked for better friends." They didn't look hurt and we all started to laugh. Then we all realized at once what kind of situation we were in.

"Okay, so Daniel and Trevor already know that you're the prince, right?" Grover asked. Annabeth gasped.

"You knew that Percy was the prince?" Grover nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah, I figured it out a little after the three boys came into the mansion. Percy had reminded me of the former prince that once lived with the royal family. However, he was supposedly lost. Since no one recovered his body, I just thought that maybe if the prince was alive, if there was some possibility that he was still out there, than maybe he could be him. I guessed right." Grover looked pleased and I smiled, my lip cracking and a small trickle of blood flowing down my chin. I coughed.

Annabeth wiped the blood of and Grover patted me on the back.

"It took me a while to find out," Annabeth admitted. "I just thought he was a clumsy boy, free even. Like he didn't care about anything. But who knew that he was the Prince of Aquatica." We then suddenly heard footsteps and realized in horror that we were talking really loud.

I had braced myself for what was about to happen. What if Santos heard? What if one of the servants heard? What if Doug or Don heard?

But when that person reached the bottom of the stairs, I let out a breath of relief. It was Luke.

"You guys should really not talk that loud." Annabeth and Grover slowly got up and walked over, giving Luke a big hug. I could see that they really missed him. Like an older brother.

"Luke, you're back," Annabeth cried, tightening the grip around Luke's chest. Grover was also hugging him, making sniffing noises as if he were crying, which I think he was.

"I told you I would," Luke said softly and hugged the two back.

"Nice to see you, Luke. Although, you came a little late," I tried to say, but it came out hoarse. However, he understood.

"Sorry, wasn't able to cross the woods enough. Plus, the guards in the mansion are twice as protective than the castle. It was hard to get through." Annabeth and Grover backed away from him and we all faced Luke.

"So, what's the plan?" Annabeth asked. I smiled and stared at Luke. He looked back at me the same way.

"Oh, you'll see." And we both whispered it into their ears and hoped that it was going to work.

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**Hope you enjoy! Happy winter break!**


	17. Chapter 18

**I feel very horrible for not updating in a very looooooooooooooooong time. There was winter break and then my computer crashed. I could list a whole bunch of excuses, but it won't change the fact that I feel bad. T_T . Well, I hope that it wasn't too long of a wait. Please enjoy.**

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Annabeth, Grover, and I reached the top of the dungeon stairs. When we stepped out into the castle once again, we looked both ways to make sure that no one was watching us. The coast was clear.

"Luke," I whispered and he ran up the steps. There was a window nearby and he unlatched it, a sudden breeze hitting my forehead and reminded me of the lake that I had ran into.

"Thanks, guys. Remember the plan, alright?" I smiled.

"Yeah, got it. Bye Luke." He smiled at us and jumped out the window, landing safely on his feet and ran the opposite direction of the guards. In a matter of seconds, he was out of sight and in the forest. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was painful," I announced, rubbing my arms and legs. There was a large gash across my stomach that started to bleed. I hunched over, but the other two were there to catch me. "Thanks," I croaked.

"Percy, we need to patch you up. We can't go on like this if you're too weak," Grover cried, startled by my sudden movement. Annabeth nodded, agreeing with him.

"He's right. If you're too weak, the plan won't be able to work. Now, all we have to do is to get you to your room. Santos let you out, which probably means that you're fine to go now. However, it'll be bad if we run into the 'princess'." Annabeth spoke the word, 'princess', like it was acid. However, I had to agree with her.

"You guys do believe me, right?" I ask them as we climbed up the tall, mansion stairs. They nodded.

"Of course, Percy!"

"Yeah, Seaweed Brain." Then, I remembered about Annabeth's secret. I leaned closer to her as they pulled me up and whispered in her ear, "Does Grover know?" I pulled back and looked at her in the eyes. She nodded.

"Yeah, I told him when I first met him. Along with you, Luke, and Thalia, you four were the only ones that knew my true identity." I smiled. Grover, who was helping me stand up, was listening and chuckled.

Instead of my bedroom, we ended up going to Annabeth's because there wasn't much of my things left in there after we cleaned it out. I plopped down on her bed and felt my body ache. I winced.

"Grover, can you go get some bandages and the cleaning solution from the bathroom?" He nodded and headed straight to the bathroom to get all the things that were needed.

When Grover occupied himself in the bathroom, Annabeth helped me take off my ripped shirt and her face paled when she saw the large wound on my stomach.

"Percy, if I knew that it was going to be this bad, I wouldn't stepped in sooner." She fought with herself. "I'm so stupid! I'm sorry I let this happen!" I could see her face, distraught and worried, but I reassured her that it was alright. Plus, it was part of the plan.

"It's fine, Annabeth. It's not your fault. Luke explained that it was part of the plan. This is just collateral damage." I don't think it made her feel any better, but it calmed her down a little. Grover ran in with bandages in his hand along with a bottle of some sort of liquid.

"This might sting a little," Annabeth warned me. I nodded. Grover sat on a chair next to us and gave me his wrist.

"If you want, you can grab onto my wrist." I took it.

"Thanks, G-man, but there is no guarantee that I'm not going to break it." He seemed a little hesitant and I chuckled. Then, Annabeth started to bandage me up.

First, she poured the cold liquid on my wounds. Each time it came in contact with my skin, it burned and I gritted my teeth. She wiped the blood away and patched up each one. She was done with my arms and my back, so all that was left was my stomach.

She told me to lie down and I did, aching from the pain that moving caused. I looked over at Grover and felt a little better because he wasn't doing any better than I was. He watched as Annabeth cleaned the wounds, his face getting paler and paler with each healing. It looked like he was about to throw up.

Annabeth added the last bandage to me and tossed me a new shirt that Santos had left. I put it on and sat up. Grover's face finally colored. Annabeth seemed less worried and more determined than ever to make sure our plan would work out.

"Now, all we have to do is wait," I said, weakly. I sigh and the other two just sat silently. I wasn't sure what to do next until I remembered that the princess was still here.

I tried to get up, but Annabeth pushed me down.

"You can't get up! At least not yet. Just wait a few more minutes...Maybe an hour." I sigh, but agreed with Annabeth. "What do you want anyways?"

I pointed to a shelf in the corner of the room. There stood a mask that the servants wore and she brought it over to me. I put it on, just in case someone came in. I let the feeling sink in. The feeling of anticipation. The feeling of longing.

Then, I remembered a very important fact.

"Hey, can one of you guys do me a favor?" They nodded. "If you go into my room, there is a floorboard underneath the last bed, closest to the window. It'll be easy to spot if you step on it. Lift it up just a little and put your hand in. Inside will be a rock-like crystal. I need that right now." They looked at each other and me, confused, but decided not to argue. Grover ended up going. I was left in the room with Annabeth.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked. I nodded.

"A little, I guess." There was a moment of tense silence between the two of us.

"Annabeth?"

"Hm?"

"I've always wondered...Why is there such thing as pain?" She looked at me even more confused. For a smart girl like her, I wondered what would be able to stump her. I guess I could.

"What do you mean?"

"Like pain. If it hurts that much, how come people have it? Wouldn't it be better to not have pain and live like that?" She shrugged.

"Why are you suddenly asking me a question like this?" This time, I struggled to shrug.

"Well, I've always wondered. Anyways, what's your opinion." She thought for a while, a small gleam in her eyes meaning that she was thoroughly going through the question, thinking of any possible solution.

"It's because if you don't have pain, you can't stop yourself from inflicting injuries to yourself. Like, let's say that you are jousting. Your opponent has the advantage and knocks the wind out of your lungs. For us, it'll probably be one of the most painful experiences ever. But if you don't have pain, you won't be able to feel it at all. However, what if that strike did something worst than just make you lost your breath. What if it tore a major organ in your body to shreds? Or just slightly tear it? You would have no way to know that you're slowly dying. That's why there is such a thing as pain." I nodded, understanding what she was talking about.

"But is there another reason that we have pain? You're answering my question logically. But I want to know what do you think. Not what everyone else does." This seems to surprise her.

"Um, there isn't much to say about it." She paused and I let her keep thinking. It took longer this time. "This is a difficult question. I've always been taught to rule your head over your heart, not the other way around. However, if I was able to answer a question like that, I would say that when you feel pain, it tells your heart that it's time to stop. It's time to let it go and give up. Pain is something hard to deal with, but if you will never be able to avoid it..." She became silent for another minute. Grover walked into the room, his hand clasped around something blue and shiny. I smiled as he opened his palm to show the piece of coral that my father had given me.

"Thank the gods that it's still there." I grasped it harder.

Grover cleared his throat. "What is that anyways?" I smiled. I knew that I would have to explain it sooner or later.

"It was a gift from the king." They stared at me in shock.

"The king gave you that? When?" Grover cried.

"Not that long ago, actually. Remember that time when we had gone out to have our fitting? Well, I snuck away from Daniel and sneaked into the castle grounds without no one noticing. Everyone thought that I was a servant there! It's was amazing! The king had given me this when I had served him. He said that I reminded him of his son. And that's pretty funny, knowing that I actually am his son." A small shadow came across my face. "Though, I really doubt that he could remember me." I set the piece of coral into my new pants pocket. "When I was younger, I had always been a really stupid prince."

Annabeth snorted, but I ignored it.

"I was terrible at everything and caused trouble. I broke everything I touched. Triton was always better at me than most things that princes were supposed to be good at. Reading, sword fighting, horse riding. But there was one thing that I had that he didn't. My father's love." In my hands, I clenched the precious piece of coral. "I had always been my father's favorite, although not everyone might've seen it. My step-mother hates me, since I was the product of an accident. I wasn't meant to be created." The last sentence had me.

"Since Triton was always her favorite, my dad had favored me, knowing that I would never be excepted by most people. But I'm really fine with that as long as he would root for me. But then there was that one day I felt like he betrayed me. He left me out there alone. I was going over seas. I wouldn't be coming back for a long, long time. He listened to his wife and had me shipped away to an unknown world.

"Before leaving, he had slipped something into my bag that I hadn't noticed until I started unpacking on the boat. It was a piece of coral. A bright, blue, shiny looking thing, it was. In that instant, I knew that he still loved me. He still cares about me when most people lost hope. Then, the storm hit. I was sent overboard and never saw it again. Until that day."

Annabeth and Grover stared at me as I lifted the coral up to the light and let the natural shine radiate throughout the room. They were awestricken and my hair spilled across my face when I lay in Annabeth's bed, staring at the very thing that was going to prove a point.

We stay calm and collective for a matter of time before I heard Santos bellowing downstairs. My mask was on, I was changed, and the coral was safely in my pocket. I'm good to go.

The three of us got up, the two of them helping me up, and we all walked downstairs in agony. I saw Daniel and Trevor there as well. They had a gleam of mischief and satisfaction as well as worry and paranoia. They were probably glad that I was punished, but I wasn't damaged too bad.

Suddenly, the princess walked by the stairs and I narrowed my eyes. I could see Annabeth and Grover staring daggers at her. She was living a lie, that princess. We know her secret and can use it to our advantage.

Santos cleared his throat to get our attention. "I would like to tell you that the princess has now finished with her one night stay. She will be going back to her kingdom." A part of me was celebrating. I mean, who wouldn't want her to go back to where she came from. But the other part was hoping that this was going to work. If she recognizes me now, it'll be too late.

"Thank you for your generosity," she chided, a hint of annoyance in her voice, mainly directed towards me. She walked in front of us, studying us a little more intently than I'd like her to. Suddenly, she paused at Annabeth. I hadn't noticed, but Annabeth, standing next to the princess, looked a lot better than the princess did in a million years. She had intelligent gray eyes, calculating people's every moves. Her blond hair was tied in a messy ponytail, but it made her seem different.

When she stopped, I hoped that she wouldn't be able to recognize Annabeth as well. If anyone realizes who we are, than we're dead.

After a few seconds of dead silence, the princess walked forward. I let out an enormous amount of air I had left in me.

When the princess left, we took off our masks. Santos stood stiffly next to us and spoke to us about what was going to happen next.

"Well, you guys did a good job, excluding Percy." I mentally scoffed. It wasn't my fault that snobby princess pretended to be attacked by me. "The next step is the second to last. You boys are almost there. With the final test coming up, I'm wondering who I'll pick to be the prince." He left.

Daniel and Trevor turn to me.

"You know, if you think that you're going to win this, than you're wrong. I have a fool proof plan of winning, and no matter how much you flatter Santos," Trevor flipped his hair, "he will see right through it." He left with a puff and Daniel followed after him after berating me as well.

Even though I should be worrying about if I was going to be picked prince or not, I reminded myself of something Santos had said that disturbed me. Annabeth and Grover seemed to understand and the look in there eyes told me that they know as well.

"'With the final test coming up, I'm wondering who I'll pick to be the prince.' That's bothering me." Annabeth agreed, the three of us standing quietly in front of the mansion stairs.

"That means that two of us are dead. But the real question is, what's the final test?"

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**Thanks to the reviewer who told me that they advertised my story in their story. (That sounds weird) You really didn't have to, but thanks so much for doing it anyways. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	18. Chapter 19

That night was like any other. I just ignored the two when I went to sleep. Of course, they dared not to speak to me, but I could hear them talking about me.

When the lights went out, I wasn't able to go to sleep. I just thought about what Santos had said. A final test.

What could it be? What is this test? Does it involve fighting, learning, all the prince like things that we had practiced over the month? I can't believe it, but it was the first time that I was actually terrified.

I stare out at the stars and for a moment, I could've sworn that they were twinkling at me, winking. It was a little reassuring, so I felt more at ease.

There was a small shift next to me and I turn to see the other two. Obviously, they were thinking about the test as well, sweat beaded on their forehead I snickered and they heard me, but it just made them sweat more.

'They're getting nervous,' I thought. 'I could use it to my advantage.'

I continue to stare up at the sky for the rest of the night until a small sense of sleep had overpowered me.

Like any other typical night, I had that strange dream, haunting me as I ran. But unlike the other times, this was different. I was watching myself in a rerun.

I was running through the woods. The leaves and branches were scraping my face and I was afraid for my life as I rushed through. The wind howled in my ear and I was wearing the same old scraps I had worn before I became a pawn in Santos's plan.

I could see myself trip and fall, wincing, even though I could feel no pain. But watching myself was painful enough. The small tears were escaping as I clutched my open wound and the blood started to drip down my leg. I staggered, trying to regain strength and run, but it hurt more and more when I tried. The dirty ground was infecting my wound. Dirt was smeared on my face, clothes, hair. I didn't even look like me anymore.

There was a small trail of blood and the enemy was searching. They were hunting me, the ghostly shadows from before about to devour me whole. There was that gut wrenching pain telling me that I could not survive this one. I was too late and I was too weak. I was nothing.

The shadows had slowed down as they saw me staggering. I wanted to yell at myself, motivate me. But alas, nothing could be done. The shadows reached me, an arm outstretched. It wrapped itself around over my shoulder and touched my chest. It's blank face was resting on my shoulder.

"There is nothing for you to live with now. Everyone thinks you're dead. Come with us." I could see my dream self try to fight. He wouldn't dare join them. It gave me some hope. However, as fast as my dream self tried to fight it, the shadows were stronger and faster.

"Suit yourself," they had said. "But you don't have a choice." And with that, the shadow that was wrapping itself around me had engulfed me. It covered me head to toe with itself. I watched in horror as the shadow ate me, its transparent body thin enough so that I could see myself dying. The wind was howling more than ever, no sign of life anywhere. The trees had gone cold and I balled my fists trying to stay calm. My breathing was heavy, as well as fast and deep. There was a scream of pain and I could see myself try to claw out of the shadow's body, but to no prevail. In a few seconds, I couldn't see my body anymore. The shadow had eaten the last of me.

But I wasn't dead. Not even close.

Suddenly, a burst of energy came from inside the shadow and it felt like an explosion had taken place. The wind was blowing through my hair and the shadow creatures backed away a little bit. I was taken back. After a few seconds, the noise had died down. The wind had stopped and was blowing soft, gentle breezes once again. I could hear crickets chirp.

I thought that the creature had devoured me. It had taken my soul captive and done nothing but try to kill. I was dead wrong.

In the middle of the forest, where I last saw myself, was me. I mean, it wasn't me. Not at all.

I stood up, my back facing me. I couldn't see my face, but my face was covered in dread. Slowly, the shadows showed a small sign of facial feature. A smile. A scary, terrifying, evil smile.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Because what I saw next, made me want to jump out of my skin.

I turned around, my dream self facing me. Except it wasn't me. He had pitch black hair, like I had once before, but darker, like a bottomless pit. My eyes were just as black, even the white part. I had pale skin and the same sickening smile that the shadows had. The fear in my eyes were gone.

My fingers were long and sharp, my clothes torn, but new ones had grew on. Everything was dark. Very dark.

I tried to regain my breath, but the sight of me standing there was horrifying. And it did one thing that shook me up from the dream.

It smiled, turned, and looked straight at me.

I woke up with a start. All I could register at the moment was what had just happened. Pitch black hair, eyes, clothes. It was all too much.

Daniel and Trevor looked over at me, confused with why I was breathing heavy and sweating so much. They must've thought that I was afraid of the final test, thinking that they can use it to their advantage.

I took my hand and reached up to my forehead, running my fingers through my hair. I checked. It was brown. I sighed. I got out of bed and wobbled, almost loosing my footing. My knees felt weak and I wanted to faint. Couldn't this test wait another day?

I staggered over to the mirror and while the overwhelming feeling had devoured me whole. When I saw my reflection, all I could see was the blackness. I gasped and fell back. The other two laughed, but as I got up, I looked back. I was normal. It was me, the same Percy as I ever was.

I had brown hair, medium skin, green eyes. I sat down on a chair and leaned back, my eyes closed and breathing a huge sigh of relief. I don't ever want to experience that again.

"What is wrong with you?" Trevor snickered. I could hear Daniel laughing from the bathroom. Instead of talking back, I just ignored them and walked out of the room without getting changed.

I walked straight to Annabeth's room. When I knocked, she came and opened the door. Surprisingly, Grover was there, helping her go through the plan.

When she saw me, her face was filled with concern.

"Percy, what happened? You're all pale? Are you okay?" I was attacked with a bunch of other questions that I had no strength to answer. I walked in and she closed the door behind me.

I plopped down on a stool that she had and Grover walked over to me.

"Percy, are you okay?" he asked. Again, I was too weak to say anything. I just continued to breath a little at a time until I calmed down.

It got me thinking. Why was I so afraid of that dream? There is no such thing as magic in the land of Aquatica, so why was I getting so worked up over it? How come I was so afraid? What could make me cower in fear so much?

After retrieving me a glass of water, the two sat by me and made sure I didn't burn up. They waited until I finished drinking and sat patiently to hear my story.

"I had a dream." Grover didn't move, but Annabeth seemed a little taken back.

"A dream? That's it? A nightmare? You had a nightmare and came here to scare us?" She seemed a little mad, but I wouldn't blame her. If I was in her shoes, I would've thought that I was mad as well.

"No, it was different. This dream, I mean. It seemed so...real." Quickly, the dryness in my throat had came back even when I finished drinking water.

"What do you mean?" Grover asked curiously. I took a deep breath.

"I was...what do you call it? Turning into something. Something evil and sinister. Something that terrified me even more than it did when Santos threatened to kill me." They weren't able to ask anymore questions when I suddenly heard Santos yell upstairs.

"Boys! I need you to come down here right now!" I looked at the two and they nodded. Helping me reach downstairs, Annabeth and Grover held my arms and took me to see Santos.

The other two boys were lined up, making me the last one.

When we were all there, Annabeth and Grover excused themselves. It was just us four.

"Well, as you know, there is going to be a big test that each of you will have to pass in order to become prince." The others tapped their feet nervously. "Well, I would like to announce that you're test is ready to go."

With my head facing down on the ground a second ago, I sprang up and surprise and my eyes widened. Was I able to do the test in this state?

"There will be three parts to the test," Santos explained. "Firstly, you must look like the prince." He clapped his hands and three butlers had brought in three suits, each a different color. They were like one of Santos's, but more extravagant and smaller. It looked like the what I had used to wear.

"Here are your three outfits from the time we had gone to your fitting." Each butler handed us our clothes. Mine was a medium blue, a dash of silver and sea green. I admired the colors and the stitching on it, but it seemed too fancy for my taste.

Daniel had a green one and Trevor had an orange one. Theirs were similar to mine, but you couldn't tell that they were made in the same place.

When the butlers left, Santos proposed the second plan.

"Next, you will have to attend the royal ball that is taking place tonight." I had almost forgotten that there was one. It was so soon. Each year, they have a special ball to celebrate the kingdom and it's many years of standing tall. "You will apply what you know with how well your acting skills are. Of course, I could already sense that there are going to be more than one Prince Percy at the ball. There are other men who will insist that their boy is the lost prince of Aquatica, so you need to step it up and make sure that you sell it." I hadn't really thought about it, but the though that there was going to be more than one me made me sick. It had reminded me of the dream I had.

I shivered, but no one noticed.

"And lastly. It's the most important part of the test." We all inched in a little closer so that we could hear the details. Santos cleared his throat. "I will give you a signal when the ball is over. There will be a time where everyone is going to line up and greet the royal family. That is when I want the person that I chose to be prince to come up and introduce yourselves. As Prince Percy."

It took me a while for it to soak in. Whoever Santos is going to pick is going to come up to the royal family and tell them that their long lost son has returned. But the thought of that made me sick.

Even though I truly am the prince, I felt like I was still putting up a charade. I was lying about who I was. There is no way that I would want to be prince. I'd rather have my servant mask on and be invisible at the ball than presenting that I've come back.

It took me a while to get away from the place. Not that I don't like it, but being a prince has too many responsibilities that I do not want to do. I'd like to stay the way I am.

"Do you boys have any questions?" No one spoke. "Alright then. I will have you go to the bathroom and change into your clothes.

We nodded and I found an extra bathroom that no one was using and changed into my clothes. Like I had deduced, it was itchy and hurt. The clothes poked at my skin and I couldn't help but keep wanting to rip it off and put back my old pair of clothes.

There was a small pocket in the clothes and I knew what to do.

When we came out, Santos clapped his hands.

"Wonderful! They fit!" Next, he made us wear towels around our necks to make sure that the clothes wouldn't get stained from the dye.

"You boys are going to need to dye your hair pitch black. Prince Perseus had his hair cut cleanly, although a little rugged." They servants had dyed our hair. When it had dried and they washed the rest off, they began to cut it. They gave us each a mildly messy haircut. When it dried, they combed it.

When we were done, I took the towel off and with the other two, walked to show Santos.

When he saw us, he seemed delighted.

"Marvelous! You boys look just like Prince Perseus! Wonderful!" We took a look for ourselves. Trevor and Daniel didn't look so bad with their new haircuts. They looked a little more handsome, but at the same time, not.

I almost couldn't bring myself to look at the mirror again. I had pitch black hair. I was afraid. But I had no choice.

I looked up and my eyes widened.

There were no black eyes and pale skin, thank gods. But I saw Prince Perseus. I saw my other half. I looked just like me.

It was hard to look at myself. I've been trying to run away, disguise how I look and seeing that I look like this again...it was hard to deal with.

I wasn't overwhelmed with the idea that I look like the prince. When Santos had excused us, we walked back upstairs.

Annabeth and Grover had been waiting to see me and they gasped when they saw how I looked.

"Percy, you look just like a prince!" Grover said in awe. Even Annabeth agreed.

"Nice job, Seaweed Brain. You cleaned up well." I could only suppress a smile and they brought over a portrait of me when I was younger. It was the photo people use on the 'missing' paper.

The two of them looked at it and back at me. They did this for about ten times.

"Wow, you look just like your old self. I can't believe it's been two years. Usually, people grow to look a lot different." They showed me the picture and I couldn't help but agree. The hair was unusually the same. I had the same green eyes. The same face shape. The same facial features.

"You could fool me," Grover replied. I chuckled.

"Well, when I go to the ball tonight, we're gonna really see who I can fool."

* * *

**Midterms! I got midterms! I hate midterms! Sorry... But anyways, I'm almost done with this story. I hope that you guys like it. Also, have you guys heard about the MTV Movie Brawl? Well, the Sea of Monsters is one of the opponents and it's going against Catching Fire, a really tough opponent. So if you could, just search MTV Movie Brawl 2013 and vote for the Sea of Monsters! Thank you!**


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